The trip back to an Atlantic Peewee Baseball Championship tournament has begun for the Gander Pilots.
Last year’s Pilots squad finished sixth at AAA Atlantics after earning second at provincials. The Pilots continued improving its skills at the annual Mary Tavenor Memorial Baseball Tournament in Corner Brook from July 9-11, where a pair of pitchers put on quite the show in the opening game.
“We had four games,” said bench boss Greg King. “The first was against Corner Brook A, which was their AA team, and we won 10-0. Jordan Maher and Riley King combined for a no-hitter in that one. In five innings of 15 batters, they had 13 strikeouts. That was our best game.”
From there, the Pilots played two AAA teams — Conception Bay South and St. John’s — and lost by respective scores of 10-4 and 6-3. Despite the losses, King saw a lot of positives he can work with moving forward.
“The second game against C.B.S… It was 1-1 in the fourth inning, so it wasn’t that bad of a game,” he said. “Against St. John’s, the defending provincial champions and the team that came third at AAA Atlantics last year, and we lost a very respectable game 6-3. Considering all of the scoring was in the first two innings…it was a very good game.”
In the fourth and final game, the Pilots played a team it could very well see in the AA provincial championships, Upper Island Cove. The game went back and forth to the very last inning, where the Pilots pulled out a dramatic win.
“Our final game was against Upper Island Cove, a AA team, and in a seven-inning game, we beat Upper Island Cove 9-8 in the bottom of the seventh,” said Greg King. “That was a very good game — I liked that one.”
The Pilots will head to Grand Falls-Windsor for the provincial AA baseball championships from July 30-Aug. 1. It’s been a short season for the Pilots, and as provincials get closer, King and his coaching staff will work on developing pitchers. Riley King, who helped throw a no-hitter in Corner Brook, won’t be travelling with the team to Grand Falls-Windsor.
“The biggest concern now is they use a pitch count. A pitcher can only throw so many pitches a day, and there’s only so many per tournament, and if you go over 30 pitches you need to take a day off. The problem for us is we don’t have enough pitchers, so that’s what this is all about,” said Greg King, motioning to the line of players practicing their pitching. “It’s all about getting guys to throw strikes. We’re more concerned with letting the other team hit the ball as fast as possible and letting our defence take care of it than we are for strikeouts.”
“We’re more concerned with letting the other team hit the ball as fast as possible and letting our defence take care of it than we are for strikeouts.” - Greg King
If the pitchers are able to copy some of Major League Baseball’s good groundball hurlers like Derek Lowe and Brandon Webb, Greg King is confident his infield will have little trouble getting outs. That will be the game plan when the Pilots hit provincials.
“Our infield defence is fantastic…it’s probably safe to say it’s the best on the island, I would think. Our outfield still needs a bit of work, but I think it’s the fact that we haven’t had enough practice with it,” he said. “Most of our outfield came from the mosquito program, and there aren’t a lot of balls hit to the outfield in mosquito.”
The Pilots can compete against other provincial AA powerhouses, as evidence by its 2-0 record against other AA teams in Corner Brook. However, an injury and a sudden out-of-province move by a shortstop/pitcher has left the team a little depleted.
“Compared to last year, we’re missing a few big players,” said King. “Our top hitter is out with an injury (Ben Avery), Jake O’Quinn is gone to B.C., and we have a group of new pitchers. Jake is hoping we win the AA provincials, and if we do, he’s going to fly back and compete in Atlantics with us. That’s his plan.”
This year’s Pilots team have only three returning players from last year — Riley King, Nick Fitzgerald and Brett Glover. Those three players went to Atlantics last year, and Greg King is hoping that experience will help this year’s squad.
The team also has two familiar faces returning to the fold, and because all of the boys know each other, Greg King is hoping that familiarity will also help bring a provincial AA title back to Gander.
“Chris Tobin and Jacob Parsons have played before, but they didn’t play last year, so they’re back with us this season,” he said. “Hopefully, that will make a difference, because they played with this group a few years ago.
“The guys all know each other and that helps a lot. These guys play together everyday and I think that’s going to help them out as well.”
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