Mikey Schwab knows what it's like to play a provincial baseball championship tournament at home, but he's one of only three Prince George Lomak midget Knights ever to have had such a hometown experience.
That happened three years ago when he was playing for the Prince George peewees when they hosted the 2013 double-A provincial tournament. That was the only time he's played baseball at home in anything other than a league game or zone playoff in seven years as a ball player.
Today at 8:30 a.m. at Rotary Park, the 16-year-old Schwab and the rest of the Knights will get the rare chance to be the home team in a provincial tournament when they take on the Ladner Red Sox in their first game of the 10-team B.C. Baseball 18-and-under double-A championship.
"It means a lot, it's just a great experience when you have your own fans - you can get up for any game in town here when you've got that fan support," said Schwab, the Knights second baseman.
"It's a totally different feeling, playing at home, it just gives you a lot of excitement. There's only three guys on this team (shortstop/pitcher A.J. Nickolet and injured first baseman Liam Campbell are the others) that actually got to host before. That leaves about nine guys who have never had the chance to do this and it's definitely special."
One of those nine is Knights 17-year-old pitcher/third baseman Dustin Aldana. He grew up playing baseball at Gyro Park, Joe Martin Field and Volunteer Park but in eight years, every tournament was a road trip.
"This is the first one," said Aldana. "All the tournaments are (in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island or the Okanagan) so it's nice to have one here for once.
"We're used to this field, and we're comfortable here. I think we can win. We've got everything working for us."
Most of the Knights have played together on all-star teams since they were 10-year-olds. That familiarity on the field lends itself to seldom making costly errors which, in a short four-day tournament, can mean the difference between a championship run and an early exit.
"It helps a lot because you know you can trust the guys you're around," said Schwab. "You know what they are capable of and they know what you are capable of, so you can really work together and be on the same page."
The Knights have played since late May in the Northland Dodge P.G. Senior Baseball League. Entering Wednesday action, they were in a virtual tie with the D.O.B. Contracting Gladiators for first place in the men's league. The Knights (13-7) were only a few percentage points ahead of the Gladiators (12-7), who played the last-place KnB Contracting Orioles on Wednesday night. In the 20 years since the senior league was resurrected, no midget team has ever led the league. Last year the Knights won just two of their 20 games and finished last.
"That makes you feel good - it feels like we are one of the more elite teams around and we can do some damage here but we have to prove it at provincials," said Schwab. "You can talk all you want, but if you don't prove it on the field it doesn't mean nothing."
The Knights are confident in their defensive abilities and play an aggressive style, utilizing their considerable team speed to beat teams by playing small ball. They don't hit a lot of home runs but they get on base and once they're on they know how to take advantage of their quickness.
Knights coach Jody Hannon played on the 2012 midget Knights squad that went 12-7 in the men's league, the only other time a midget team finished with a winning record in the league.
"We get a lot of looks at ex-college guys or guys who could have gone pro and there's still a few guys who have a chance to go somewhere and we have fun with it," said Hannon. "We try to take it as serious as we can but at the same time we use (the men's league games) as practice because we don't have other teams to play up here and we've been quite successful."
Hannon figures this year's edition of the Knights is considerably stronger than his 2012 team, which ended up winning the double-A provincials in Prince George, then lost in the semifinals of the Western Canadian championship.
"We have quite a bit more depth, pitching-wise," said Hannon. "When we played we had minimal pitching, we only had five or six guys who could pitch and mostly everybody on this team can come and throw an inning."
That comes in handy in minor baseball, where pitchers who toss any more than 45 pitches in a game are required to take a full day's rest. Aldana and Matt Knight are the Knights' starters and neither of them is overpowering but they don't make a lot of mistakes.
"They're not strikeout guys but hit the zone all day and they don't walk guys and they get ground balls to help the guys out of tough situations," said Hannon.
The hard thrower is Cole Schwing, whose pitches hit the high-80s (miles per hour), and Nickolet, Craig Uwimana-Budskin, and lefty Joseph JenVenne are the usual relievers. Knight has considerable power with his bat and leads the men's league with three home runs, the first midget ever to do that.
Knight, Schwing, Brandon Hanson, Scott Walters and Dylan Lukinchuk have been playing together for five or six years and are a tight-knit group. They're hoping the success they've been having in the men's league will translate into wins on the field against their midget peers this weekend.
"To be a midget double-A team coming in the men's league and winning as many games as we have, it feels great and really boosts our confidence," said the 18-year-old Knight.
"Our pitching is very strong this year and our bats are backing us up right now. We're hitting the ball hard and it's going good, a lot of solid contact. We've got our hometown fans and hopefully a lot of them will show up for provincials. It's a lot better for us than staying in a hotel room."
The Knights will also play at 4 p.m. today at Citizen Field against the Campbell River Tyees. The venue is where they suit up for their men's league games.
Citizen Field is a hitter's park, with its left field porch and a left-field wall that's only 300 feet away from home plate. The Knights are used to the short dimensions on that side of the field and hope to use their familiarity to their advantage.
"You learn to pitch away from it when you see a lot of right-handed guys pull for distance," Hannon said. "We haven't had that problem this year. We haven't given up many home runs this year. We're pretty solid defensively and that's a key part of our team."
The Knights have done well in tournament play this summer. In triple-A calibre events they finished second in Kelowna three weeks ago and won two of five games at a tournament in May in Kamloops. They also placed second at a double-A tourney in Surrey-Newton.
The Knights could be without both of their usual first basemen this weekend. Campbell, one of the team's top hitters, broke his wrist a few weeks ago when he got hit by a pitch during a senior league game and is out for the season. His replacement, Spencer Dempsey, is nursing a torn hamstring and might not see the field.
In the other opening game this morning at 8:30 at Citizen Field, the Tsawwassen Dodgers play the Ridge Meadows Royals.
The winner of Sunday's final (4:30 p.m., Citizen Field) will represent B.C. in the Western Canadian tournament, Aug. 12-14 in St. Albert, Alta.
B.C. Baseball 18U Double-A Provincial Championship
Pool A
Tsawwassen Dodgers
Ridge Meadows Royals
Kamloops River Dogs
White Rock Bears
Vancouver Expos
Pool B
Ladner Red Sox
Prince George Lomak Knights
Campbell River Tyees
Mission Twins
Newton Giants
Schedule
Today
Tsawwassen Dodgers vs. Ridge Meadows Royals, 8 a.m., Citizen Field
Ladner Red Sox vs. Prince George Lomak Knights, 8:30 a.m., Rotary Park
Kamloops River Dogs vs. White Rock Bears, 11:30 a.m., Rotary Park
Campbell River Tyees vs. Mission Twins, 11 a.m., Citizen Field
Vancouver Expos vs. Tsawwassen Dodgers, 1 p.m., Citizen Field
Newton Giants vs. Ladner Red Sox, 1:30 p.m., Rotary Park
Ridge Meadows Royals vs. Kamloops River Dogs, 4:30 p.m., Rotary Park
Prince George Lomak Knights vs. Campbell River Tyees, 4 p.m., Citizen Field
Opening ceremony/skills competition, 6:30 p.m., Citizen Field
Friday
Mission Twins vs. Newton Giants, 8:30 a.m., Citizen Field
White Rock Bears vs. Vancouver Expos, 11 a.m., Citizen Field
Ladner Red Sox vs. Campbell River Tyees, 1:30 p.m., Citizen Field
Tsawwassen Dodgers vs. Kamloops River Dogs, 3:30 p.m., Citizen Field
Newton Giants vs. Prince George Lomak Knights, 6:30 p.m., Citizen Field
Vancouver Expos vs. Ridge Meadows Royals, 8:30 p.m., Citizen Field
Saturday
White Rock Bears vs. Tsawwassen Dodgers, 8 a.m., Citizen Field
Mission Twins vs. Ladner Red Sox, 10:30 a.m., Citizen Field
Kamloops River Dogs vs. Vancouver Expos, 1 p.m., Citizen Field
Campbell River Tyees vs. Newton Giants, 3:30 p.m., Citizen Field
Ridge Meadows Royals vs. White Rock Bears, 6 p.m., Citizen Field
Prince George Lomak Knights vs. Mission Twins, 8:30 p.m., Citizen Field
Sunday
Semifinal - Pool B2 vs. Pool A1, 10 a.m., Citizen Field
Semifinal - Pool A2 vs. Pool B1, 1 p.m., Citizen Field
Final - Semifinal winners, 4:30 p.m., Citizen Field
