KINSTON, N.C (July 5, 2025) – The Down East Bird Dawgs broke through for the first time in the series Saturday night but ultimately fell 5–4 to the Trois-Rivières Aigles in sudden death at Grainger Stadium.

Yassel Pino opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the third inning to give the Bird Dawgs a 1–0 lead. The Aigles tied it in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Louis-Philippe Pelletier.

The Bird Dawgs quickly reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Pino scored on an error and Jaylen Smith crossed the plate on a wild pitch to make it 3–1.

Trois-Rivières evened the score in the eighth on Luis Curbelo’s two-run double. Both teams traded runs in the 10th—Mathieu Vallée singled in the go-ahead run for the Aigles before Smith responded with an RBI double to extend the game to sudden death.

Under Frontier League rules, once the game reaches the 11th inning, the sudden-death rule is introduced. The home team determines if it will play offense or defense, and they play a half-inning. If the fielding team gets three outs without allowing any runs, then they take the win. The team that is hitting is given a baserunner at first base with no outs, and if they score a run, then they win the game.

The Bird Dawgs elected to play defense, but John Montes delivered a bloop RBI single for Trois-Rivières to seal the 5-4 win.

Alexander Castro (2–3) earned the victory, allowing one run on one hit over two innings. Aigles starter Gavino Rosales pitched five innings and gave up two earned runs on four hits.

Due to Frontier League rules, no losing pitcher is credited in a sudden-death inning. Brandon Kaminer tossed a quality start for Down East, allowing one unearned run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings.

The Bird Dawgs fall to 20–28 with the loss and trail the series 3–2 heading into the finale on Sunday, July 6, at 1:30 p.m. against Trois-Rivières.