Brewers rebuilding this South West Baseball League season

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This article was published 20/05/2017 (3166 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There will be a slight changing of the guard for the Wawanesa Brewers when they step onto the diamond to open their South West Baseball League campaign against the host Oak River Dodgers on Tuesday.

Gone from the squad that captured the senior AA provincial title on their home field last August with a 5-3 win over the Santa Clara Baseball League’s Minnedosa Mavericks are veterans Paul Thompson and Ryan Powers, both of whom joined teams in the Andrew Agencies Senior AA Baseball League, and Brad Roth, who joined the Rivers Comets for this season.

Outfielder Lindsey Gullett also left the Brewers in the off-season, electing to play senior baseball in Winnipeg.

“We’ve definitely got a youth movement afoot,” Wawanesa manager Glen McGregor said. “We’ve got a real good bunch of high school or just-out-of high school guys from around the area that have been coming out and they’re pretty keen to play.

“They’ll keep the enthusiasm up for some of the older guys.”

Brothers Curtis and Jeremy Plett — the former earning the win in last summer’s provincial final after throwing 5 2/3 innings while allowing just two earned runs on seven hits and two walks to go with four strikeouts — and Derek and Mark McGregor, plus Dane Seafoot are among the veterans returning to the Brewers.

That said, the crop of young players are expected to play important roles this season.

Among them is 20-year-old Graham Hore, who played with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League the last three seasons, Dawson Cullen, Cody Shearer and Sam Hiebert.

There are also a few members of the Prairie West High School Baseball League’s Wawanesa Warriors who will step in for some SWBL action for their hometown team.

“It’s going to be a bit of a transition for us, I think, and we’ll be hard pressed to keep up with some of the teams that have veteran lineups, but we’re looking forward to it,” Glen McGregor said. “It’s nice to see all the young, local talent that wants to continue to play up.”

“I think there’ll be a learning curve,” he continued. “We hope to be competitive and there’s a bit of a transition going on and it’s something where we need to work in some new guys so the team continues on in the future.”

Like last year, when the Brewers finished atop the South Division regular-season standings at 10-3 with the Boissevain Centennials before losing their best-of-three division semifinal series 2-0 to the Deloraine Royals, McGregor expects pitching will be the key for his team.

“I think that we’ve got some good starting pitching and I think the hitting is something that some of the guys that have been here a couple of years now are hoping to pick up some of the slack,” he added. “I think we’ll be a fairly balanced team.”

The Comets also expect to be a well-rounded team this season as they join the SWBL. The team moved to Rivers two years ago and played in the Andrew Agencies league following a 30-year absence from senior AA baseball in the community.

Rivers lost its best-of-three semifinal 2-1 to the Canadian Tire Cardinals, falling 4-3 in Game 3 on a two-out, extra-inning single by Clark Whelpton, ending their season.

This time the SWBL playoffs are the goal for player-manager Aaron Tycoles and the Comets, but they are also pumped for the challenge of playing in a new league.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun playing against teams like Oak River and Hamiota that are in close proximity to us, should be pretty good rivalries,” Tycoles said. “Obviously we’re excited to play in a league with as many teams as the South West league that’s very competitive.”

“Our goal is to definitely be better than .500 and reach the playoffs in a very competitive division in the North,” he continued.

With Rivers joining a circuit that travels more than just to Brandon, a couple of players, including Buddy Mayert who joined the Cardinals, jumped ship.

But the Comets also gained a couple of players, including Roth, former Cardinals shortstop Dustin Asham and Rivers product Scott Beever, who played with the University of Jamestown Jimmies and the Weyburn Beavers of the Western Major Baseball League in the past.

“He’s a smart baseball player and works hard and he should fit in pretty good with our group,” Tycoles said of Asham. “Then we’ve also added Brad Roth who is not necessarily a young guy but a guy who has been a pretty good hitter in the South West league over the years to the middle of our lineup.”

Roth’s former team is among those the Comets will look to measure up with this season. The Virden Oilers, who swept the best-of-three league final over the Centennials, are the other such team.

If the Comets are going to measure up favourably with the Oilers and Brewers, their pitching will likely end up carrying them.

“We’ve been a pitching and defence team, which will be a challenge because there are already some pretty good hitting lineups in this league and we are hoping we hit the ball a little better than we did last year,” Tycoles said. “I think we need to hit the ball better but I think we’ll win a lot more 4-3, 3-2 games than we’ll win 9-8 games.”

Rivers joins Oak River, Virden, the Elkhorn Expos, Hamiota Red Sox and Reston Jays in the North Division, while the Centennials, Royals, Brewers, Hartney Hoppers and Souris Cardinals comprise the South Division.

Every team will play 14 regular-season games.

Joining Wawanesa and Oak River in action on opening night is Boissevain, who travels to Hartney, and the Oilers playing the host Comets.

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