The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack baseball team is hoping to uncover a mystery this weekend at Norbrock Stadium. The WolfPack host the Okanagan College Coyotes and the Vancouver Island Baseball Institute Mariners on Saturday and Sunday (April 13-14).
The WolfPack don’t have a problem winning on Saturday. It’s the Sunday thing which has them puzzled.
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WolfPack warming up[/caption]
Both of the Thompson River defeats this Canadian College Baseball Conference league season have come on the Sabbath.
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Ray Chadwick interviewed by CFJC TV's Earl Seitz[/caption]
“We are trying to figure that out as a team and as a coaching staff,” said Thompson Rivers head coach Ray Chadwick. “ It has been a mystery for the ten years that I have been here that our home record on a Sunday has been terrible. We have no answer. 80 per cent of our home losses have come on a Sunday. It was so bad one year that we had an 11 pm Saturday night home curfew.”
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Cody Pendergast (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption]
The latest loss for the WolfPack came last Sunday (April 7) when they fell 5-2 to the Mariners. “ Up until that game,”said Chadwick. “ Our hitter had been very good not giving away at bats. Sunday, we wasted a lot of them and look to go back to great at bats throughout the line up this weekend in the four games.”
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Kyle Sandulescu tags player at third (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption]
Going into this weekend, the WolfPack lead the CCBC with 10 wins and 2 losses. Okanagan College sits in third spot at 3 and 5 while VIBI sits in the basement at 3 and 9.
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David Hole hits a homer in last year's CCBC Championships (Allen Douglas photo)[/caption]
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Brendan Reid gets a high five from the bat boy (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption]
Individually, David Hole of the WolfPack (Vancouver, BC) leads the CCBC in home runs (3) and runs batted in (17). Brendan Reid of TRU (Calgary, AB) is second in the league in batting average (.448).
“Reid’s play at shortstop and at the plate along with Brent Carmichael (outfielder, Victoria,BC)’s on base percentage and stolen bases in the lead off spot have been the most pleasant surprises this season,” adds Chadwick.
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Brent Carmichael leading off first in last year's CCBC championships (Allen Douglas photo)[/caption]
He expects his squad to be a little better defensively now that they have had a week of regular practices. The ‘Pack were forced to reduce their practice time the last two weeks due to tournaments being held at McCarthur Island.
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Danny Moore (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption]
Chadwick plans to throw Danny Moore (2-0,RHP, Victoria, BC) and Alex Reid (1-1, LHP,Kamloops, BC) against Okanagan College. Wataru Asaoka (2-0,RHP, Hokkaido, Japan) and Jake Hein (2-0, LHP, Langley, BC) will go against VIBI.
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Wataru Asaoka with Japan Flag (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption]
The Mariners have two of the CCBC’s top stats leaders. Dallas Monk (infielder/pitcher, Comox, BC) leads the league in batting average at .465. Cody Chartrand (RHP, Naniamo, BC) has the most strike outs with 22.
Opening pitch on Saturday (Apr 13) against Okanagan College will be noon with the game against VIBI starting at 6 pm. On Sunday (Apr 14), the WolfPack will meet up with VIBI at 10 am and challenge Okanagan College at 4 pm. All games are at Norbrock Stadium.
Games can be seen and heard by logging onto http://livestream.com/wolfpack_baseball
