After some great baseball in the league quarter-final round, the semi-final matchups and schedules have now been released for the Ligue de Baseball Majeur du Quebec. Bot of the semi-final series are slated to begin on Sunday, September 13th in la belle province. 

The defending champion Castors d'Acton Vale advanced to the next round as they defeated the Pirates de St Jean sur Richelieu 4 - 2 in their Best of 7 series including a decisive 11 - 1 victory in game six of that series. Veteran LHP David Gauthier picked up the win on the mound as he tossed a complete game allowing one run (earned) on three hits while walking one and striking out eight.

Anji Sakamoto took the loss for St Jean sur Richelieu as he allowed four runs (all earned) on nine hits while walking two and striking out six in his six innings of work. Jean Francois Delisle and Emmanuel Forcier (2 RBI) each had three hits to lead the Acton Vale offence while Germin Lopez had two hits including a home run and had four RBIs

The Castors will take on the Jets de Montreal who also took down their Best of 7 quarter-final series 4 - 2 against the Guerriers de Granby. Montreal came out hot in this series as they won the first three games and had Granby on the ropes early. Not phased, the Guerriers battled back as they took game four by a score of 5 - 1 and followed that up with a 7 - 0 win in game five.

The Jets were able to buckle down in game six though as they won that by a score of 15 - 4. RHP Mathieu Poirier grabbed the win in the finale going four innings allowing three runs (all earned) on four hits while walking one and striking out two. Veteran Jonathan Martin collected the save allowing one run (earned) on three hits over the last three innings. 

James Turcotte-Chabot, the second of five Granby hurlers, took the loss as he went 1 2/3 innings allowing five runs (all earned) on three hits while walking two and striking out three. Richel Lopez (2 2B, 2 RBI) and Moises Perez Infante each led Montreal with three hits with Perez swatting a home run and collecting three RBIs. Issael Gonzalez also had a home run and three RBIs. Olivier Vallee (2 RBI) and Nathan Gagnon each had a home run for Granby. 

The second semi-final will see the 2024 LBMQ Champions the Cactus de Victoriaville taking on the #1 team in the league this season the Big Bill de Coaticook. For Coaticook, they were able to defeat a tough Cascades de Shawinigan team in their Best of 7 quarter-final series by a count of 4 - 1 including a narrow 3 - 0 win in the series clincher. Big Bill ace Sora Sakashita grabbed the win in this game tossing six shutout innings allowing only four hits while walking one and striking out seven. Tsuyoshi Furuya earned the save with a scoreless 7th inning with one hit and two strikeouts. 

Jaycob Lachance took the loss for Shawinigan as he allowed three runs (all earned) on three hits over his four innings of work. Matthew Rusch threw two scoreless frames in relief allowing only two hits while walking one and striking out two. Francis Lefebvre (RBI) and Ryan Bawart each had a pair of hits to pace the Coaticook offense. Julien Castagnier-Charlebois had the other RBI for the Big Bill. Kohei Yamada had a pair of hits to lead the Cascades offense. 

For Victoriaville, they were able to win a tough series against rivals the Brock de Drummondville 4 - 2 including a come from behind 6 - 5 win in 10 innings in the series finale a couple of days ago. LHP Rene Dave Pelchat started and went four innings allowing five runs (all earned) on 11 hits while walking one and striking out two in getting a no decision. Nathan Landry threw a scoreless 6th inning with no hits and two walks.

Veteran Josue Peley picked up the win with five innings of scoreless relief allowing three hits and striking out two. Taiki Ashitani tossed six great innings for the Brock allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits while walking one and striking out six. Xavier Tremblay took the tough loss going 3 2/3 innings allowing one run (earned) on four hits while striking out two. 

John Loschiavo (RBI), Mathieu Sirois (RBI), Rylan Sandoval (2 RBI) and Raphael Ross al had two hits to lead the offense for the Cactus. Veteran Raphael John Leblanc also had a hit and an RBI for Victoriville. For Drummondville, C Michel Dagenais had three hits and two RBIs while Gabriel DeBlois, Tom Guilbert and Karl Gosselin each had an RBI to round out the Brock offense. 

To follow along with the LBMQ playoffs throughout September, you can visit CABC Baseball at http://www.cabcbaseball.com or you can follow on the Ligue de baseball Majeur du Quebec website at http://www.lbmq.ca