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Last Updated: Aug 15th, 2008 - 05:35:02
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Their pitching will need to be a hit. Despite numerous accolades and record-setting offensive performances, the Prairie Baseball Academy Prairie Dawgs will lean on their pitchers this weekend with hopes of winning a Canadian championship on their home diamond.
Sophomore Ryan Williams and freshman Sheldon Jones will get the starting nods for the host Dawgs today as the Canadian Colleges Baseball Conference league championship tournament kicks off at Lloyd Nolan Yard and Henderson Stadium.
The Dawgs will open at 2:30 p.m. at Nolan versus the defending tournament champion Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack (Kamloops), followed by a 7 p.m. date with Malaspina University Mariners (Nanaimo) over at Henderson. University of Calgary Dinos is the fourth entry in the three-day draw.
“It’s a short-term deal so pitching will have to come up big,” noted PBA head coach Blair Kubicek, his team having won nine of their last 10 games. “It’ll come down to pitching this weekend — it always does.”
Williams is the lone second-year starter on the Dawgs and led the staff in most categories, including innings and strikeouts. The hard-throwing right-hander witnessed first-hand his team losing a one-run game last year to Malaspina in the semifinal, and knows he and his colleagues will need to deal in the clutch this year if the Dawgs are to reach the final.
“Pitching usually contributes the most to winning a game,” said Williams, a product of Halifax. “If you don’t have the pitching you probably won’t get the win. That being said, we all need to step forward this weekend and do the job. Pitching is what’s going to win this thing.”
Taking a glance at the Dawgs’ lineup and one would assume it would be the offence that would carry this team that placed first (21-8) after the regular season schedule in the five-team loop. Freshman outfielder Zach Rhodes rewrote the PBA record books this year by setting the single season hits mark as well as eclipsing the previous record for triples. Tyler Aiken tied the hits record and catcher Joel Blake hit close to .370 and threatened the hits record.
Sophomore shortstop Jesse Sawyer won Wednesday’s home run derby at Nolan with numerous blasts that landed well into the Lafarge Aggregate and Concrete compound. The six-foot-four middle infielder acknowledged the Dawgs’ impressive offensive showing, but said it wouldn’t be enough for the team to win a championship.
“Pitching and defence. Whoever can do that the best should win this thing,” Sawyer said.
“(But) offensively we really came on at the end of the season and were hitting the ball really well. This is the right time to be hitting that stride.”
If there was a favourite this weekend Kubicek pointed at TRU, who beat Malaspina in the final a year ago in a one-run game. The Wolfpack have more than a dozen players returning from last spring’s championship squad.
“They’re a veteran club, a four-year program, and we expect them to be very good again this year,” Kubicek said. “We expect all the teams here to be competitive, but if there is a favourite it would have to TRU.”
AROUND THE BASES — The Dawgs (21-8) finished first in the regular season and were followed by Malaspina (15-14), Calgary (12-12) and TRU (13-17). . . today’s action starts at 11 a.m. at Nolan with TRU facing Calgary. . . PBA will play TRU at 2:30 p.m. at Nolan while Calgary takes on Malaspina at the same time at Henderson. Today’s final game has PBA and Malaspina playing at 7 p.m. at Henderson. . . Dawgs OF Zach Rhodes and SP Sheldon Jones were CCBC first-team all-stars, while OF Tyler Aiken, 2B Duncan Sourisseau, C Joel Blake and SS Jesse Sawyer were named to the second-team.
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