They will face high-quality opponents. The Prince George Lomak Knights aren't bothered by that fact. Their sole focus is on winning a B.C. championship.
The Knights, an 11- and 12-year-old all-star team, will step to the plate Thursday in Chilliwack for the B.C. Minor Baseball peewee double-A provincial tournament. This season, the division is rich with talent. But, as a club, so are the Knights.
"One through 12, we have better athletes than anybody we've seen this season," said Knights coach Jim Swanson. "We have good pitching, we play good defence, we're mature, we make good decisions. We fully believe that we have a chance to be in the Western Canadians this year. There isn't a member of the coaching staff that has a doubt. It's a matter of making sure the kids have that full confidence."
A berth in the Western Canadian championship tournament is the prize for the winner of provincials. Westerns are Aug. 17-19 in Morden, Man., located southwest of Winnipeg.
The Knights will start the 10-team tournament with a Thursday noon game against the Rutland Rockies. Other teams in their pool are the Ladner Red Sox (Friday, 9 a.m.), Nanaimo Pirates (Friday, 3 p.m.) and Burnaby Braves (Saturday, noon). Teams on the other side of the draw are the Kelowna Cubs, Duncan Cardinals, Cloverdale Spurs, Abbotsford Angels and Chilliwack Cougars. The top two clubs from each pool will advance to playoff semifinal games on Sunday morning and the championship final will be played later that day.
The Lomak players will have their first opponent, the Rockies, fresh in their minds. A couple weekends ago, the Knights played a doubleheader in Rutland and lost to their hosts 5-3 and 10-6. In those games, the P.G. boys were sometimes guilty of donating runs to Rutland through defensive miscues.
"We didn't play well that day -- just played very poorly," Swanson said.
Offensively, the Knights have been hot and cold this season.
"We can hit the ball," said Swanson, whose club takes a 14-11 record into the B.C. tournament. "If we've been working on anything recently as an approach it's been to make sure that we have them ready to go from the first pitch of the at-bat. Some of our players have been wanting to work a walk or see a couple pitches before they swing when the pitch that they would have driven into a gap or done some damage with was the one that was thrown over the plate first or second. That's been our challenge -- just getting that proper mindset and approach at the plate."
At provincials, the Knights will be one of the older teams. Ten of their 12 players are in their second years at the peewee level.
Three of the Lomak leaders are Cole Schwing, Jarin Sutton and Devin Sutton. The roster is rounded out by Dustin Aldana, Jordan Arnett, Zach Swanson, Michael Schwab, Michael Taylor, Scott Walters, Jeremy Gervais, Nigel Thompson and Cole Beacom.
Others who have helped out in various coaching capacities this season are James Sinclair, Darrell Gervais, Jason Schwing, Mike Sutton, Connor Flynn, Laine Thompson, Jack Hinsche and Shane Taylor.
