Good thing the Lomak Bulk Carrier bantam Knights had players to spare when they got to Citizen Field Sunday to play the Total Tops midget Knights in a baseball exhibition.
Midget Knights first baseman Brendyn Jocko injured his ankle falling off a trampoline at his brother Tyrus's Kelly Road secondary school grad party Saturday night and the all-night Kelly Road and Duchess Park festivities took a toll on the attention spans of several of their teammates Sunday afternoon
The midget Knights were also missing lefthanded pitcher Kieran Leboe and second baseman Nicolas Potskin, both out with ankle injuries. Bantams Quinton Astorino and Grayson Wagner volunteered to fill in the holes in the midget lineup and helped the older group to a 10-7 victory.
While they might have appeared a bit of a rag-tag bunch on the field Sunday, there's no denying the midgets are off to an impressive start this season. They play in the Prince George Senior Baseball League and and now sport a 3-2 record heading into the fourth week of the season. The reason for that is simple -- pitching and great defence.
Tyrus Jocko, an 18-year-old native of Trail who hit .290 in 28 Premier League games for the Victoria Eagles, pitched a 3-0 gem May 30 to beat the Dusk Till Dawn Contracting Titans on May 30, the midget Knights' best game of the year so far. He's been solid fielding the ball at shortstop but has struggled at the plate.
"I need to take some more batting practice, I can't hit a ball," said Tyrus Jocko, who had no sleep Saturday night. "When I went to Victoria last year they almost restructured my whole swing. They said it was obvious I didn't have a guy to teach me how to hit properly and they wanted to teach me how to use my power. I am getting frustrated and I asked my coach if I could go over to his house every day to start working on my swing again and get it back to what it was last year."
Jocko moved to Prince George with his brother last August when their dad took a job in the city, after the Knights had won their second-straight provincial under-18 championship.
In the opening game of the PGSBL season, Bryan Allbee's pitching and a standup triple from Brendyn Jocko helped the midget Knights beat the Titans 13-9. Then it was Tyrus Jocko's turn to nail down the second win.
"That was a great confidence builder," he said.
The Jocko brothers, Leboe, Allbee, Myles Kazakoff, Cole Waldie and Jackson Belanger are pitching enough quality innings to win more than they've lost against the seniors, erasing memories of the Knights disastrous 1-17 PGSBL season record last year.
"The difference between this year and last year is we're making routine plays with our regular lineup," said midget Knights manager Troy Waldie. "Not only is that fun to watch, but it makes for a good ball game."
Kazakoff, who plays second base and outfield when he's not pitching, has been the Knights' most consistent hitter. Bantam pitchers Cole Bronsky, Cole Schwing and Cole Beacom held Kazakoff to two singles on Sunday.
"It's fun playing the younger kids, I see them all the time when I umpire," said Kazakoff. "It's good to see them playing hard.
"Our team's defence is so strong this year and we're just an all-around good team. Anything that comes to us that we should be making a play on, we're making that play. It's awesome to have people up there who can throw strikes."
Kazakoff has a batting cage at home and practices his swing religiously and it's paying off for him. His batting average through five PGSBL games is hovering around the .500 mark.
"I'm just staying calm at bat and looking for a hanging curve ball or a fastball just to drive," said Kazakoff. "You just have to go up there not looking to hit the ball out of the park. You just go up there knowing you're going to drive the ball and get on base."
The midget Knights are in action again Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Citizen Field against the Inland Control & Services Tigers.
