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Grays hoping to gel quickly |
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Written by TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
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Thursday, 07 August 2008 |
As juniors in a senior circuit, the Prince George BID Construction Grays did quite alright for themselves.
Owners of an impressive 20-4 record heading into the last day of the season, they’ve already guaranteed themselves the Prince George Senior Baseball League regular season title.
As the second-youngest of nine teams in an adult league, the Grays hope to use their season-long accomplishments at Prince George Citizen Field as a springboard to vault them over their junior-aged peers.
The Grays, whose lumberjack bats and Scrooge-stingy pitching arms cut a swath to the top of the PGSBL, are among five teams competing in the B.C. junior provincial championship, starting today in Kamloops.
“We’re pretty positive after we won the men’s league this year,” said Grays manager Ken Wood. “The men’s league was pretty good, with lots of competition. We had a bunch of games that were close, that could have gone either way, and that will help prepare us for the weekend. We’re a little younger than we were in the years past, but a lot of these kids have played competitive ball, so they should be OK.”
The Grays decided not to be a traveling team this year, declining invitations to play other junior teams in various parts of the province. The money savings was an obvious incentive to stay put put this summer for the first time in team history, but there was also some doubt early in the season whether there would be enough Grays to field a team.
The B.C. Junior Baseball League, which used to have as many as 11 teams, folded this summer after the last of the Lower Mainland teams backed out. Only Kamloops, Kelowna and Prince George remained.
“It was really a struggle this year to get guys to commit and come out -- we really didn’t see all of our team until a month into the league and we usually know our team a month before we start,” said Wood. “I thought we’d do well in the men’s league, but not as well as we have, and that’s just the commitment of the kids.
“We could have gone to play other towns, but that’s all it would have been, and I didn’t want to spend $5,000 or $6,000 traveling around playing games when I could play those games in Prince George. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake because they need more games. Playing only two times a week kind of hurt us a little bit, having 15 kids, because all our pitchers didn’t get enough pitching.”
Bryce Asham, Kalen Kirkpatrick and Jeremy Kral, who all played in two tournaments with the Prince George Axemen senior select team, are the only Grays with tournament experience this season.
The Grays begin the championship quest tournament today at noon against the Victoria Mavericks, followed by an evening matchup against the host Kamloops Sun Devils. The Devils are the defending champions and the team to beat again this year, Wood figures, based on the fact most of the same players formed the Thompson Rivers University team earlier this year.
Wood plans to pitch Jeff Scobie against Victoria, and expects Jeremy Kral to throw against Kamloops. Ben Laverdure and Cory Taylor are the other Grays starters. Kalen Kirkpatrick, Troy Callander and Chris Clark are the relievers. Having lived through their PGSBL wars, Wood says his pitchers are ready to step up to the faster-paced junior game.
“We find the men’s league very hard for the pitching because there are so many good batters on every team, especially the top three or four teams,” Wood said. “I really think our pitching has come through for us in the men’s league.”
If the Barry Yip ReMax/Moxies Gladiators win their final league game tonight against the Inland Control Tigers, the Glads would finish tied with the Grays with 20-4 records, but the Grays would get the nod for first place based on their 2-1 record against the Gladiators in head-to-head contests.
The Grays have been either first or second in virtually every offensive category in the PGSLA. Bryce Asham led the league in batting (.421) hits (32), home runs (4) and runs batted in (29) and was second to Paul Wilson in on-base percentage (.511) though 23 games. Asham, Kirkpatrick and Kral will be 2-3-4 in the Grays’ batting order, hitting after speedy lead-off Steven Steele. Steele, a college volleyball player for Douglas College, joined the Grays well into the season and has been a pleasant surprise. Leon Mosure, Clark and Levi Titchmarch also bring above-average speed on the basepaths.
Tyson Mackus, Shawn Tyacke and Justyn Jenvenne are the other Grays players. Justin Fillion has been added from the Treasure Cove Pirates roster. Amanda Asay won’t make the trip.
Prince George plays the Burnaby Bulldogs Saturday at 9 a.m., followed by an afternoon game against the Kelowna Jays. The top three teams advance to Sunday’s playoff round, with the first-place team earning a free pass into Sunday’s final at 1 p.m.
Wood will not be making the trip due to job commitments, leaving the coaching duties to Terry Bonnar and Gord Geddes.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 August 2008 )
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