The sa国际传媒 Premier Baseball League is down to its Final 4 and Victoria Mariners鈥� manager Mike Chewpoy likes his team鈥檚 chances as play begins today in the championship tournament in Abbotsford.
Victoria joins the defending-champion North Shore Twins, Okanagan Athletics and Abbotsford Cardinals at Delair Park, opening the tournament with a 1 p.m. matchup against the A鈥檚. The two teams are the only clubs to come away unscathed from Round 1 of the post-season last weekend.
鈥淚 told these guys, the way we鈥檙e playing right now, somebody is going to have to beat us,鈥� said a confident Chewpoy. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to say we鈥檙e the favourite or we鈥檙e the best, but make somebody beat us and we鈥檒l be OK.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a mish-mash. Anyone who gets to the Final 4 gets a chance,鈥� Chewpoy added of the tournament, which will feature a round robin with the top team advancing straight to Sunday鈥檚 final, awaiting the outcome of a 2-vs.-3 scenario in the semifinal.
鈥淏aseball players are creatures of habit. We鈥檙e just going to run out our pitchers the same way we鈥檝e done it all year,鈥� Chewpoy said of his plans.
That means Liam Kruse will take the mound in Game 1 and Jesse Simpson starting Game 2 on Saturday at 10 a.m. against the Cardinals. Duncan Brens-Knight, who was ready to go last weekend, but wasn鈥檛 required in a pair of wins over North Delta, would go in Game 3 versus the Twins. Nick Seginowich can pitch in a Game 4 scenario and Chewpoy has plenty more options along the way.
鈥淚f we can get to that championship game it鈥檚 anybody鈥檚 game,鈥� said Chewpoy, who has confidence in the fact that his club has very much played as a team.
鈥淲e had a disappointing season last year,鈥� he said of missing the 2015 playoffs. 鈥淲e made this more of a team. Honestly, we might not have the most talented guys in the world, but when you have a 鈥榯eam鈥� then I find, in this league, things work for you.鈥�
Veteran first-baseman Chris Lata 鈥� who has hit .500 in the playoffs 鈥� buys into that philosophy as well.
鈥淭his is my last year on this team. We have the best team chemistry, I think,鈥� said the 18-year-old, who is heading to Southeastern Illinois Junior College in Harrisburg, Illinois, along with teammate Jesse Mycock next season. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been told that the team that wins it is the team that is a team at the end, and I think that鈥檚 us, by a mile.
鈥淚 do like our chances a lot,鈥� Lata added. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e one of the more superior teams there. We have the pitching staff, we have the hitting and we field the ball well. I don鈥檛 know what else you need. We also have a great catcher [in Seginowich].鈥�
During the regular season, the Mariners won all four against the Cards, took three of four against the Athletics, but lost three of four to the Twins. All three were tight games and the last two came just recently, on July 16, in one-run games including an extra-inning 3-2 loss.
The Twins needed three games to eliminate the Victoria Eagles in Round 1. Abbotsford surprised No. 1-seed Langley and Okanagan swept the Whalley Chiefs.
