The ending of the 2014 season B.C. Premier Baseball League season was as heartbreaking as you could imagine for the North Shore Twins baseball club.
Both the club's junior and senior teams made the championship final in their respective leagues and both lost by one run. The seniors, in particular, were hard-luck silver medalists. Due to the vagaries of the championship tournament schedule the Twins ended up playing three games on the final day, finishing off their exhausting run with a showdown against the always tough - and, on that day, much fresher - Langley Blaze. Despite those mitigating factors the Twins still put up a ferocious fight, even as the game went into extra innings. The North Shore boys even took the lead in the top of the ninth but their championship dreams were dashed in the bottom of the inning when the Blaze scored two to take the title.
How do you follow up such heartbreak? "Well, we'll give it another shot," said Twins general manager Rick Elstone with a laugh when contacted by the North Shore News Monday. "Last year was last year. When your team changes as much as it does (in this
league) it's kind of hard to carry on the vendetta, or to predict just how good the team is going to be."
The Twins saw a lot of players move on during the off-season but one constant is longtime coach John Haar. Already a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the 70-year-old will be inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame at the end of May. If Haar keeps earning honours, the Twins will need to rent more space on their website just to have room for his bio.
"He's got them all," said Elstone of Haar's accolades. "He's a little crabbier than he used to be when I first started, but that's age. He's just as good as he ever was in terms of being able to manage a game and coach a team.. .. He's in amazing shape. He still runs and he still throws BP." Haar leads a coaching staff that includes Brooks McNiven, Bryon Kennedy, Leo Gauthier, Mike Mitzel and Dave Hole. On the field the senior Twins have already kicked off play in the BCPBL, racking up a 5-2 record to sit in a tie for second place. Their pitching is leading the way so far, said Elstone. "I think we've got depth at pitching like we've never had before," he said. "Between our starters and
bullpen we've got a lot of arms that we can turn to."
The strong start to the regular season comes despite the fact that staff ace Will McAffer has been away in Florida playing with the junior national team. Elstone is hoping he'll get his first regular season start this weekend.
"He's a big kid that throws very smoothly," he said. "He was very effective last year for us and obviously that's earned him a spot on the national team."
With McAffer away, Braeden Toikka has done an admirable job as the team's No. 1 man following a 2014 campaign that saw him miss a big chunk of the season on the disabled list.
"He's come back with a vengeance," said Elstone. "He's pitching very well. He's another one who is very smooth, and he throws strikes."
Other top-of-the-rotation starters include Matteo Vincelli and Robert Hemer. At the plate the Twins have been led by catcher Nicolas Favaro who is off to a scorching start with a .500 average, nine runs, 15 runs batted in and two homeruns through seven games. "Favaro has been red hot," said Elstone, adding that as the catcher Favaro has a huge influence on the rest of the team. "It's an example for the younger guys. Nic plays the game hard."
The Twins are also getting good production from Nicholas Carusi, a player who came to the North Shore following the dissolution of the Vancouver Cannons.
"Carusi may be the best leadoff guy I've seen in years for us," said Elstone. "He's a real sparkplug. He plays hard, he runs hard, he hits hard.. .. You look for a guy who can get on base as a leadoff hitter and Carusi is doing a real good job." Other hitters expected to lead the team include seniors Taylor Wright and Geoff Ehresman.
"We're looking at them for offence and we're looking at them to mentor the younger guys," said Elstone. "Those guys set the tone for the rest of them. The young guys are kind of shell-shocked sometimes. They're temperamental. They'll take themselves out of at-bats sometimes. They watch the older guys who just go in there and get it done."
The Twins were scheduled to play at home this weekend but those games will need to be moved due to a refurbishing of the Parkgate field undertaken by the District of North Vancouver. The already picturesque field should shine even more when it's ready - thanks in part to new LED lighting - but the work has meant an extended road trip to start the season. The Twins are hoping to play this Saturday's doubleheader against the Victoria Mariners at Nat Bailey Stadium, home to the Vancouver Canadians.
Updated schedules and field locations can be found at northshoretwins.com.
The Twins are hoping Parkgate will be ready for a pair of doubleheaders May 9 and 10. "We have been travelling quite a bit," said Elstone. "It's going to be nice once they can get into their home park." Wherever they hit the field, the Twins will be aiming to get back to the championship game and hoping to have a happier ending this year. They're a confident bunch right now, said Elstone. "I think we'll be contenders at the end of this," he said. "All of John's teams are way better at the end of the year than they are at the start. That happens every year and I think it speaks to the coaching staff that we've got."
