THE main ingredients that helped the North Shore Twins cook up an excellent season in the B.C. Premier Baseball League were all in the mix on Monday night as the team rolled to an 8-0 win over the Victoria Eagles in their final regular season home game.
Playoff seeds were to be decided last night after North Shore News press deadline but the Twins know that they will finish in the top four and will host a best-of-three opening round playoff series this weekend at Parkgate Park.
On Monday night the Twins lost 53 to open a doubleheader against the Eagles but bounced back with a dominant performance in Game 2 that started with the man on the mound, Brad Smith. The lefty complemented his mid-80s fastball with a wicked curveball that had Victoria's batters swinging and missing all night. Smith's final line included just four hits and one walk in six innings with six strikeouts. The win was his 10th this season, tops in the league. The Vancouver native has a 1.11 earned-run average this season while striking out 75 batters in 69 inning innings en route to a 10-1 record.
"His biggest thing is he's got a plus-plus curveball," said Twins head coach Larson Bauck after the game. "His curveball, like it was tonight, it's almost un-hittable when he's on. He can throw a fastball in there at 84, 85 and then he throws that curveball, it's a tough pitch to hit. When he locates his changeup and it's around the plate, Bradley Smith is one of the best there is. . . . He got 10 wins in the Premier League. That's tough to get - 10 wins in a 48-game season."
When the Eagles did make contact the Twins demonstrated another strength - their steady defence. Infielders made all the plays asked of them and speedy outfielders covered a lot of ground, tracking down a number of well-hit balls.
The Twins aren't slouches at the plate either. In Monday's win they racked up 12 hits in six innings, led by centre-fielder Tristan Graham whose bases-loaded double in the third inning plated three runners and gave the Twins a comfortable 4-0 lead that they eventually doubled when they scored four more in the sixth. The Twins have been hot at the plate for most of the year - seven of their regulars are hitting above .300 this season, led by shortstop Anthony Cusati who is tops on the team with a .349 average, 32 runs and 28 RBIs in 42 games.
The team has put up solid offensive numbers despite losing the services of slugging third baseman Lachlan Fontaine who only appeared in 18 games before he was drafted by the Seattle Mariners and sent south to the MLB club's rookie league team.
"Lachlan is a big, strong, talented kid and he went the professional route and as the Twins organization we're happy and we're proud," said Bauck. "But every time you lose a player - even if it's in the big leagues to an injury - you've got to approach it as hey, it's another opportunity for another guy and somebody's got to step up. . . . It hurts not having Lachlan's bat in the lineup but we've got so much depth in our lineup it just comes down to playing defence."
Smith isn't a one-man show on the mound either - starters Brandon Chernoff and Clark Grisbrook didn't put up gaudy win totals like Smith did but both posted excellent stats throughout the season. Grisbrook, a power pitcher, stuck out 72 batters in 73.2 innings while posting an excellent 2.09 ERA. Chernoff, a sinker/slider pitcher, had an ERA of 1.80.
"On any given day all three of those guys can beat anybody in the league," said Bauck. "It's nice to have that high-end depth. Usually in the premier league you get a couple of guys that are pretty good, but in our situation we have three guys that are really good."
Those three starting pitchers have Bauck feeling good about the team's chances in the playoffs.
"Any time that you can run out there with top-three arms like we have it's going to give you a chance to win," he said. "The first round is always tough to get through because everybody has one or two arms that can beat you. But if you get through the first round and you have some pitching depth, like we do . . . we look really good matching up at the final four."
The Twins will know by today who they'll be facing in the opening round series. Games this weekend at North Vancouver's Parkgate Park are tentatively scheduled for noon Saturday with Game 2 to follow as the end of a doubleheader. Game 3, if necessary, will be played Sunday with a tentative start time of noon. Visit northshoretwins.com or bcpbl.com for confirmation of the Twins' playoff game times and opponent.
