The North Shore Twins came one win away from topping their dream season with a national title last weekend in Quebec, claiming silver at the Baseball Canada 18U National Championships.
The Twins, who had already won the B.C. Premier Baseball League regular season title and provincial championship crown, weren't able to send their full squad to the Sherbrooke region for nationals but they were still gunning for gold. The quest ended, however, with a 6-1 loss to Quebec in the final.
"We went for a gold, we wanted the gold," said Twins general manager Rick Elstone. "We couldn't beat the Quebecers — that's why we got a silver."
It was an impressive feat to even make the final considering that none of the team's four starting pitchers who had dominated all season were available for the tournament. Braeden Toikka was too old for the 18-and-under format, Robert Hemer was nursing an injury, and Will McAffer and Matteo Vincelli were both away on duty with the Canadian Junior National Team.
To fill the void the Twins brought along a couple of solid BCPBL starters in Carter Loewen from Abbotsford Cardinals and Cooper Misic from Langley Blaze, but the team was still searching for arms by the end of the tournament.
In the semifinals against Manitoba the Twins called upon second basemen Cole Ensign to take the mound, something he'd rarely done all year. He came through though, striking out four while allowing three hits and no walks in a five-inning, 10-0 mercy rule win.
That win put the Twins in the final where they faced a tough task against an elite squad from the host province.
"Quebec sent an all-star team, which was not real level with (the club teams) everyone else had sent," said Elstone. "They had a nice lefthander who pitched a nice game, he handcuffed us.... They had a real strong team. They played everything well — they played defence, they hit. Not much you can do."
Elstone wondered what could have been if his club had been able to field its full squad.
"I think if we had our Twins full roster we would have beat them," he said. "But that wasn't to be."
Twins slugger Nick Favaro was named the tournament's top catcher while Elstone also credited outfielder Geoff Ehresman with leading the team in Quebec.
"Ehresman was lights out. He just hit everything well. He pulled a ball down off the fence, threw a guy out at third from right field, had a home run. He's a real good player.... He even came in at the end against Quebec and struck out the side. He's a real fierce competitor, he hates to lose. He's an intimidating guy. He had a great series."
One disappointing note for the Twins was that longtime coach John Haar, a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, had to go in to hospital with a chipped vertebrae and was not able to make the trip.
"The kids really respect him," said Elstone. "They recognize he's the backbone of the franchise, so it was a shame he couldn't come. He loves the game and he loves the competition, but there was just no way he was going to make it."
This was the first time that the Twins have ever gone to the Baseball Canada national championships — a tournament that is not affiliated with the BCPBL — and Elstone said he wasn't sure if they would go back again in years to come, adding that the timing of the tournament doesn't work well with players' schedules.
"At this point in the year we've got guys that are off to college, guys that are off to the national team," he said. "We've got guys that are just worn out. We thought when we lost the first game (in Quebec) that the guys were just tired, they've kind of had it. But they rebounded again. But it's not easy. We had a hard time assembling the team."
Elstone added that the players still consider their win at the BCPBL championships in Victoria in early August the peak of their season. The Twins outscored the rest of the elite teams in B.C. 69-19 while compiling a 5-1 playoff record, including an 18-7 win over the Nanaimo Pirates in the provincial final. That tournament saw the Twins offence catch fire but the team was always led by its elite starters, said Elstone.
"We had an incredible pitching staff in McAffer and Hemer and Toikka and Vincelli. You don't get that very often where you've got that many lights-out starters. They were so good, we didn't get into the bullpen a lot."
It all added up to what he believes is the best ever season for the team. "They were the best team I've seen and I've been around the Twins for about 15 years," said Elstone. "That performance in Victoria with the offensive explosion, nobody has ever seen that. We just annihilated the rest of the guys. That's pretty hard to do.... It was quite a year, quite a team."
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The action continues for McAffer and Vincelli who are currently in Australia playing a series of exhibition games with the Junior National Team. The squad is gearing up for the WBSC U18 World Cup scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 6 in Nishinomiya, Japan.
