The provincial Bantam baseball champions have added arms to an already loaded arsenal.
The Okotoks Bantam Black Dawgs, the Baseball Alberta Performance titleholders for three consecutive years, will be joined by a pair of pitchers as they set course for an elusive national banner at the Baseball Canada Bantam Boys Championships, Aug. 23-27 in Vaughan, ON.
Midget Red Dawg pitcher Nick Vickers and hurler Kurt Meelberg from Edmonton, both 15-year-olds, have been picked up by the Bantam Dawgs — giving the team seven starting pitchers head coach David Robb can call into action.
“He’s probably one of the hardest throwing pitchers in the province, talking 15 to 18 year olds,” Robb said of Meelberg. “He throws hard.”
Vickers, who posted a 4.13 ERA while playing up with the Midget Red team this season, played for the Bantam Dawgs last season at nationals, where Okotoks finished second to Quebec.
“He locates well and he’s got three pitches, he’s got a fastball that runs off the plate with right-handers or into left-handers, you’ve got a really good curveball and his changeup,” Robb said of Vickers. “He holds runners well and just has that mound presence that is very much beyond his 15 years.”
The Dawgs are in Pool B alongside proverbial heavyweights from B.C., the hosts from Vaughan as well as Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) and Newfoundland/Labrador.
Dawgs hurler Kurtis Call will get the start in Okotoks’ tournament opener versus Lloydminster, the Saskatchewan representatives, on Aug. 23.
“We played them in the league and beat them three times, they’ve got a few other players, and they very much want to beat us. Last time we played we won on a walk-off single in the seventh inning,” Robb said. “That opening win would be huge for them as it would be for us.”
Following the opener Robb will have some decisions to make as to when to use his other starters — Vickers, Meelberg, Nicholas Cardinal, Austin Ely, Javier Romeo and Devon Sabatier.
“They all have their strengths and they all can go out and beat any one of those teams at any time,” Robb said of his pitching depth. “Especially if we get a few runs for them in support.”
Fortunately, getting on the sticks has been the modus operandi for the Dawgs all season. The team boasts power from one through nine in the lineup, with Cardinal and Brendan Dranchuk in the heart of the order and provincial tournament MVP Peter Hutzal providing pop at the bottom of the order.
“We could fill a lineup out there that you could have six guys hitting in the middle of the order,” Robb said.
Dawgs pitcher Dallas Forno said the way in which Okotoks won the provincial title, an 11-1 romp over Spruce Grove, gives the team plenty of confidence heading to the national stage.
“It boosts your confidence a bunch knowing that you were that much better than every single team in Alberta,” Forno said. “The team last year came in second place and most coaches around the academy have been saying the team this year is a stronger hitting team and we have more pitching.
“We’re hoping for a better result this year.”
Forno said getting the offence rolling from the outset will be crucial.
“As long as we start hitting right away, early in the tournament we should be fine,” said Forno, who’s entering Holy Trinity Academy as a Grade 10 student in September. “I think our pitching is extremely deep to get us past the round-robin stage and have plenty of pitching left for the final.”
Robb said the Dawgs should be considered one of the tournament favourites going in.
“I think we’re one of the top-three teams in there,” Robb said. “I think we’ve got some big time players, some guys that step it up, Nick Cardinal, Brendan Dranchuk seem to be guys that are consistently good all season long.
“If we play the way we can, just relax and have fun and be aggressive the way that we want to play then we’re going to be in the playoffs and have a chance for the medal.”
To follow the results live go to www.pointstreak.com/baseball.
