The North Shore Twins brought some muchneeded heat to a cold, wet day of early-spring baseball by scoring a walk-off win in the final inning of their B.C. Premier Baseball League home opener Saturday at Parkgate Park.
Fans huddled under umbrellas and stomped their feet to stay warm as the Twins took on the North Delta Blue Jays with the temperature dipping into the single digits. The contest was to be a doubleheader, but with puddles forming on the field it was becoming obvious that there'd be only one game that day and the Twins were losing it, 5-3, heading to the bottom of the seventh.
The rally started when Nicolas Favaro and Emerson Dohm took backto-back walks against Blue Jays reliever Austin Ell to open the frame. Manny
Restrepo then laid down a spectacular bunt that he legged out for a single, loading the bases with none out. None quickly became two, however, as Ell struck out a pair of Twins to bring second baseman Taylor Wright, the No. 9 hitter, to the plate with no more lives to spare. The left-handed hitter, already snake-bitten on a few hard-hit balls during the young season, roped the third pitch he saw over the head of first baseman Evan Rogers, the ball landing just inside the foul line and rolling all the way to the wall. Wright ended up running right through third base and into the arms of his celebrating teammates, his basesclearing, walk-off triple giving the Twins a 6-5 win.
Twins head coach John Haar joked after the game that a result like that helps warm up a team after a cold day on the diamond.
"It was a nice finish," he said. "In the bottom of the seventh every hitter who went up to the plate had a good approach up there. We knew what we had to do."
Haar credited Restrepo for his near-perfect bunt - "he couldn't have done a better one" - and Wright for staying strong at the plate despite having some tough luck earlier in the game.
"He hit a shot there to centre field (that was caught) in the middle of the game, and he hit a couple in Coquitlam in our opener," said Haar. "He got a just reward - a great way to win it for sure."
The victory kept the Twins undefeated in regular season play following a 1-0 win over the Reds in Coquitlam to open the season on April 15. Longtime Twins coach Haar, who is back with the premier team after spending a couple of seasons working with the club's junior team, has high hopes for this year's squad. He coached the Twins to three straight championships from 2007 to 2009.
"On paper I think it's one of the strongest teams we've maybe ever had," he said, adding that he's put out a challenge to this year's squad to do something the team has never done during his tenure. "We've won championships, playoffs, but we've never won the league play. There's probably a reason for that because we give equal opportunity, whereas some other teams put their best guys out there all the time.. .. But we never have won (the regular season). We set that as a goal this year, see if we can win the 48-game league schedule. We're 2-0, only 46 more to go. It's a long season, but I think we have a chance to do that. We have an interesting bunch of kids."
That interesting bunch of kids includes a strong group of returning seniors as well as a number of players who helped the North Shore Twins win the BCPBL junior title for the first time in club history last season. The backbone of the team is a strong, deep pitching staff, said Haar. The group is anchored by Vancouverites Keenan William and Bradley Smith, both of whom have seen action with Canada's junior national team. Other hurlers ready to throw down include Will McAffer and Matteo Vincelli, both Sentinel secondary students, and Brandon Marklund, a St. Thomas Aquinas student.
"We're deeper in pitching than we've ever been," said Haar. "We've got seven or eight kids who have pretty good arms.. .. There are (younger) guys with (strong) arms.
They just need some more innings, more experience at this level - which is a little higher than the junior - but they're pretty promising prospects."
The hitting heated up at just the right time on Saturday, but has been pretty cold to match the chilly spring temperatures so far. Haar, however, is confident the Twins will be one of the better hitting teams in the league once the bats warm up.
"I think we will - at least everyone else in the league tells us that," he said with a laugh, adding that several of the senior players missed the team's recent training trip to Las Vegas and are a bit behind on their preparations for the season. "We haven't seen (great hitting) thus far - it's always a challenge. We'll be OK."
Third baseman Anthony Cusati of Burnaby and West Vancouver's Trevor Wiersma, the team's first baseman, should provide offence in the heart of the order, said Haar, adding that so far this season Dohm, Favaro and Wright have been making the best contact.
Put it all together and the coaching staff is comfortable challenging this team to be one of the league's best. The Twins haven't won a BCPBL title since their three-peat run ended in 2009, but if the ball bounces the right way for them they could be back on top this year. And with a strong crop of juniors coming up, Haar is hoping they can get on top and stay there.
"I think we've got an experienced group," he said. "We've got some good kids who have come up from the juniors and they're going to push our senior guys. So far we haven't got a lot out of our seniors guys, but I think there's lots there.. .. I think we've got a bright future for the next couple of years with the young guys who are coming up."
The Twins will be on the road for their next six games before returning for a double header against the White Rock Tritons May 4. Game 1 is slated to start at noon with Game 2 to follow at approximately 2:30 p.m. For full schedules, stats and results visit bcpbl.com.
