After months of indoor practices in school gyms and the minor soccer fieldhouse and a handful of games at Citizen Field in the city's senior baseball league, the Prince George Grays will find out this weekend how they stack up against one of their provincial rivals.
They'll be in Burnaby Saturday to take on the Bulldogs in a three-game weekend set.
"They're always strong, they've won nationals a couple of times," said Grays shortstop/coach Jay Cook. We beat them at provincials last year, but I don't think they had their A-squad. They've already played over 20 games as a team and they'll be a lot sharper than us, and that's why we're heading down there."
The Grays will be on the field today in Burnaby for a doubleheader today at 4 and 6:30 p.m., followed by a 10 a.m. game on Sunday. This will be the Grays's first game action together since last year's provincial championship at Citizen Field, when they finished fifth with a respectable 2-2 record.
This year's Grays squad is predominantly made up of players with college experience. That list of college players includes pitcher/catcher Jeremy Kral (UBC), third baseman/pitcher Brandon Graham (Okanagan Community College), outfielder Garrett Belanger (Douglas College), outfielder Dylan Johnson (Prairie Baseball Academy) and pitchers Curtis Sawchuk (Missouri Baptist University), Jon Bourassa (Campbellsville University - Kentucky), and Jesse Dill (Dalhousie University).
"It's nice we have some young college blood, guys who have been playing all year, it makes it easier than all of us starting from scratch," said Cook. "Most of them have already played 40 or 50 games this year.
"Brandon Graham is a Knights graduate from last year and he's a real good hitter. Curtis Sawchuk is back and it's helpful having a good lefty arm in our rotation. Jon Bourassa will be a mainstay for us. Jesse transferred here from Victoria and he's here to stay now, he's bought a house here. He has the slowest delivery in the league."
Around the infield, first base will be covered by one of either James Haviland, Paul Wilson, Doug Clark or Sawchuk. On second, the Grays can pick from Kalen Kirkpatrick or Calvin Todd, who also has roots in the Knights midget program. Justin Fillion, a Division 1 hockey defenceman at Michigan Tech, will be back in July. He and pitcher Graham Allard could take over at third base.
Brandon Hunter is picking up where he left off a year ago when his big bat powered the Prince George Westcana Electric Axemen to their first-ever Baseball Canada senior championship. Hunter was the top hitter in the tournament, played at Citizen Field, and he leads the Prince George Senior Baseball Association in RBI, home runs and runs scored.
Hunter has great range in the outfield and will play the centre spot in Burnaby. Chris Clark and Corey Therrien will join Hunter in the outfield.
Kelowna Premier Baseball League product Andrew Gordon will play as catcher along with Kral, who was in Kamloops last year. Kral hurt his meniscus in his knee and played mostly infield positions for UBC but should be sufficiently healed to get into the crouch again for the Grays.
Knights grad Dan Giesbrecht is in his first year with the Grays and Cook says he'll be used as a reliever.
The Grays are among eight teams entered in the provincial championship, Aug. 2-4 in Victoria. Prince George is grouped in a division with Lower Mainland No. 1, Victoria Mavericks No. 2 and Kootenay. The other pool has Lower Mainland No. 2, Victoria No. 1, Nanaimo and the Okanagan.
The Grays will have two more road series to prepare, a four-game set against the Kamloops Sun Devils in Kamloops July 6-7 and a four-game series in Coquitlam July 13-14 against the Coquitlam Angels.
The goal at provincials is top-three this year," said Cook. "I think we've made improvements where we needed to and I think we can beat anybody. This is our fourth season together as the senior Grays hopefully this year we'll be far batter prepared."
