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Last Updated: Jul 2nd, 2008 - 20:21:03
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Tyler Tamayose was 11 years old when he attended his first camp with the soon-to-be-formed Prairie Baseball Academy.
Thirteen years later, he’s anxious to be part of a memorable moment for the local collegiate program — it’s 300th win.
“To know that I added to that win total feels pretty good,” said the Winston Churchill graduate. “We’ve had a decent year as a team and this is something, I think, we’ll have earned. . . same with everyone who has been a part of it.”
Sitting on win No. 299, the Prairie Dawgs will be digging for that milestone victory this weekend when they host Malaspina College for a pair of doubleheaders, beginning Sunday at 5 p.m. at Henderson Stadium.
“It’ll be a pretty cool moment,” outfielder Tyler Aiken said.
The Dawgs begin the four-game set in first place with a 17-8 record, while Malaspina sits alone in second spot at 14-9. Two wins this weekend would clinch a fourth consecutive Canadian Colleges Baseball Conference league title for the PBA.
“I’ve always been a big believer in the league championship moreso than the tournament,” Kubicek said. “To me, the league champion proves they’re the best because they’ve done it over the length of the schedule.”
The bulk of the 299 victories have come in the last few years. Since 2003-04, the Dawgs have averaged 30 wins a season.
Kubicek will be looking for personal win No. 350 as a head coach this weekend, combined between the PBA and his time spent previously at Edmonds Community College. He enters the weekend at No. 347.
As far as individual records go, Dawgs freshman outfielder Zach Rhodes needs just one hit to tie the PBA single-season record for hits (61) set in 1998 by Denny Puszkar.
“Of course I think about it a little bit,” said Rhodes, a Champion product.
“It would be nice to get the record, but at the same time I try not to think too much.”
Rhodes isn’t just a singles hitter, either. He’s legged out a program-tying six triples this season to go along with three home runs and 18 doubles. He’s second on the team in hitting with a .353 average and has struck out only 16 times in 170 at-bats.
Not far behind on the hit parade is second-year catcher Joel Blake, who needs just seven hits to tie the single-season record. Blake leads the team with a .372 average.
“He might catch me, and if he does it would be great,” Rhodes said. “If he keeps hitting the way he has been it would be even better for the team.
“If we can go into the tournament with everyone hitting then we’ll be tough to beat.”
Following Monday’s doubleheader action, the Dawgs will host their annual Caddie Classic golf tournament on Tuesday at Henderson Lake Golf Course before they open the CCBC League Championship tournament on Thursday at Lloyd Nolan Yard and Henderson Stadium.
AROUND THE BASES — The Dawgs are scheduled to play their first two tournament games Thursday at 2:30 p.m. (at Lloyd Nolan Yard) and 7 p.m. (at Henderson Stadium) and will wrap up the round-robin portion Friday at 10 a.m. . . . Kubicek said Les and Carol Colwill have played a big role this year in the upcoming golf tournament, which has been sold out for months. “They have just enhanced our scholarship program immensely,” Kubicek said. “They have brought our golf tournament to another level.” The golf tournament is a major fundraiser for the PBA scholarship program.
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