Nearly three years has passed since the Prince George Grays senior baseball team last played a game in Prince George.
That home diamond drought will come to an end on Saturday.
The Grays will be on the field for the first of two exhibition doubleheaders against the Kamloops Sun Devils at Citizen Field Saturday and Sunday and they'll be coming up against a battle-tested opponent.
The Sun Devils play semi-pro ball in the Pacific International League and spilt their most recent doubleheader weekend, going 1-1 Sunday against the Northwest Honkers of Washington State after posting a win and a loss Saturday against the Langley Blaze. Kamloops now has a 5-5 record in league play.
"It should be good ball, Kamloops won provincials last year and are going to nationals this year," Grays manager Jay Cook. "Ray Chadwick is running that team and he runs a tight program with ex-college players and ex-pros so they should be a challenge for us. They're a very sharp ball club with good pitching and sharp defence and good hitting and they've already been playing."
Not since the Grays hosted the senior provincial championship tournament in August 2012 have they had the last at-bats as the home team. They went 2-2 that year, losing out in a playoff to the eventual champions, the Langley Blaze.
"It's tough getting teams up here, nobody wants to drive," said Cook.
"We've been traveling and playing in lots of tournaments and it just worked out well that Kelowna and Kamloops will be playing here this year."
Although the Grays haven't played together since going winless last year at the provincial tournament in Trail, Cook says his team has a solid core of players who just returned after playing college baseball. They've been sharpening their skills in the Prince George Senior Baseball League ever since they got back to the city.
"We're young and talented," said Cook.
Second baseman Jared Young, 19, who hit .398 to led the Minot State (North Dakota) Beavers and made the NCAA Division 2 Central All-Region team, will add spice to the Grays' offence.
"Jared is a pretty pure hitter," said Cook. "He has good quick hands and we hope he continues his college success this weekend."
The other Grays fresh with college experience are catcher Cole Waldie (Vancouver Island Baseball Institute), catch/outfielder Cole Laviolette (Taft Junior College, California), infielder Brandon Graham (UBC-Okanagan, Kelowna) and pitcher Dylan Johnson (Mayville State University, North Dakota).
Angelos Desantis, Chris Clark, Jon Bourassa and Kalen Kirkpatrick have graduated the college ranks but are not far removed from playing at that level.
The Sun Devils and Grays play Saturday night at Citizen Field at 6 and 8:30 p.m. and again Sunday at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Admission is free.
The Kelowna Jays will be in Prince George to play the Grays July 4-5. The Grays will be on the road in Kelowna for the Canada Day blast, June 26-28, and return to Kamloops for the eight-team provincial tournament, July 31-Aug. 3.
