INSIDE THE PARK: Merger makes Marlins mighty

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This article was published 10/07/2023 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Midwest couldn’t form an under-15 AAA baseball team this season, the Brandon Marlins suddenly got a lot stronger.

Four Midwest players made the jump, including Hamiota’s Kaden Allan — who is a prospect of the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs — Nolan Drake, Aiden McGorman and Seth Sulik.

Needless to say, they’ve made an impact.

“These guys are such good kids that it was super easy,” Brandonite Jaxten Woychyshyn said. “Right off the bat we just gelled together. This year has been an awesome experience.”

The Midwest players joined Cole Lobreau, Karter Hermenegildo, Cason Burton, Lucas Gamache, Cash Hunter and Maden Simard of Brandon on the 12-player roster.

Developing chemistry also becomes a lot easier when a team is winning.

Brandon is 8-4 in Baseball Manitoba’s U15 AAA league, which puts them atop the Zone 2 standings.

They finish up their regular season with a home-and-home series against Pembina Valley, with tonight’s game at Simplot Millenium Park at 6:30 p.m., and Wednesday’s in Baldur at 6:30 p.m.

“We have lots of depth on our team,” Lobreau said. “We have lots of good hitters, a lot of good fielders and we have outstanding pitching. Everyone can pitch on the team. It’s been very good this year.”

He’s not exaggerating. All 12 players can throw, giving an incredible amount of flexibility to head coach Darcy Simard. But it also comes with some headaches.

“This year we have a lot of depth in our pitching,” Simard said. “We have 12 players and all 12 players are able to pitch. We were trying to figure out a rotation where things work and make things efficient, especially in tournament play. It’s a tough situation sometimes. “It’s nice when you can bring anyone in to do a job and it works out for the team.”

Brandon went 3-1 in the round-robin at the Triple Crown Showdown at Simplot Millennium Park on the long weekend, vaulting them into the final when they received a little help.

They settled on silver, however, when South Central pounded them 15-3 in the final.

Remarkably, the Marlins are continuing to play well despite losing two of their top players to injury.

Allan and Gamache are both currently out of the lineup, and when another player was sick during the Triple Crown Challenge on the Canada Day weekend, the remaining nine players were all on the field.

“That’s two big pieces who are out,” Simard said of Allan and Gamache. “Two great arms and two great fielders and guys with a lot of speed, but we knew right from the get-go that we had a lot of depth, so we were counting on the depth to help us throughout the season.

“It’s just unfortunate that we’ve lost a couple of key guys to injuries, but that’s sports and the boys have picked right up and picked up the slack.”

That could be important for them moving forward. Allan is an outstanding pitcher, and with him gone, others have moved into bigger roles.

Their depth on the mound is buttressed by good team defence, which in the age of the pitch count is fundamentally important. Fewer errors means fewer pitches, and could ultimately mean fewer pitchers in a game.

“We always tell the kids that making good plays defensively wins you games and it also saves on your pitch count, which is huge,” Simard said. “When pitching goes good, it starts with good defence. Every once in a while at the age of 14 and 15, there is a blunder but it’s a good group, a mature group and composed, and they don’t let anything rattle them.”

Woychyshyn agreed.

“We have a very strong defensive team,” he said. “All over the diamond, we have depth everywhere, and everyone can play every single position.”

At the plate, it can be a mixed bag. Lobreau said his team has the ability to hit well, but can be passive at times.

“We’re pretty aggressive but there are some games when we’re just not on our game and not ready to swing the bat,” Lobreau said. “But most of the time we’re aggressive.”

Overall, Simard said they’ve been pretty good offensively. They’ve scored 97 runs in 12 league games, for an average of just over eight, while surrendering 62 runs.

“Offensively we’ve been really consistent, which has been a strong point for us,” Simard said. “From top to bottom, we’ve been able to generate runs with our speed, our power and some hit-and-run situations. That’s been really good. And if the top isn’t going, the bottom is there to pick them up. It’s been a strength.”

The team has seven majors and five minors, which gives it a nice breakdown between the two age groups. Simard said the veterans have led the way, and the rookies have fed off them and held their own.

Brandon has been remarkably consistent this season, until they ran into the Winnipeg South Wolves in a doubleheader at Simplot Park on June 25. They dropped both games against the league leaders and were outscored 28-6 in 13-4 and 15-2 losses.

Still, Simard said the greatest growth in the group has come in the little details that make a club successful. He said they’ve improved through sheer repetition in practice.

“We’ve been practising a lot on pickoffs and base stealing and just making plays and staying consistent, engaged in the game and motivated,” Simard said. “Again, with 14- and 15-year-old boys you don’t know what you’re going to get so we found if we stay consistent in practice and working on the little plays over and over again, it’s been a huge success for us.”

Woychyshyn said the team has won a lot of games this year, and as long as they continue to move in the right direction, they’ll be fine.

“We need to have less strikeouts,” Woychyshyn said. “A lot of times we go down looking. And sometimes the defence will go into a bit of a lull and we’re a little asleep on the diamond. We have to make sure we avoid those big innings.”

The provincial qualifiers are July 21-23 in Ile Des Chenes, and they determine whether teams go into the Tier 1 top group or the Tier 2 bottom group. The provincial tournament is set for Aug. 4-6 at Winnipeg’s Optimist Park.

“I think we can go all the way, to be honest,” Lobreau said. “I think if we’re all on our game, every game, I think we have a chance to go all the way.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

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