Manitoba baseball schedule heating up

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This article was published 07/07/2023 (677 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Baseball players across the province will be convening in fields around Manitoba for their respective provincial champions, beginning this weekend.

Three tournaments will be hosted in the region this year, with Niverville and La Broquerie hosting the 15U A and AA championships respectively July 14-16.

Some 15U AAA teams will play in a provincial qualifier in Ile des Chenes July 21-23.

The Carillon Sultans AAA 15U team was in action in Ile des Chenes on July 3, splitting a double-header against Oildome. The 15U Sultans had two games against South Central in Altona July 5 to close out their regular season schedule, and sat in second place in the rural zone standings as of press time.

The 13U AAA Sultans also have two more games left on their schedule, a matchup on July 7 and one scheduled for July 18.

A 13U AAA provincial qualifying tournament will be hosted in Stonewall July 21-23.

The 18U AAA Sultans boast the best record across the rural zone this year, as they continue on a quest to repeat as Manitoba champions. The 18U team also played a home double-header July 3, hosting the Brandon Marlins. They also earned a split, and finished as the top team in the zone 2 standings.

Head coach Louis Cote noted that the standings don’t mean much, as the focus shifts towards the provincial championships. Just making the championships last year was a slog, with Carillon needing an extra innings win to even qualify for the top tier. There won’t be any of that kind of drama needed this year, as the 10 AAA 18U teams in Manitoba have already sorted themselves into two tiers.

With provincials three weeks away, that leaves the Carillon team battling to stay sharp to peak at the right time.

“We had a real good season,” Cote said.

“Provincials will be tough. A lot of it depends on who teams decide to throw their ace against.”

Complicating those matters is Carillon’s out-sized representation on provincial teams. Kaden Coldwell, Eric Cote, Logan Dearborn, Drew Heide, Anders Meilleur, Michael Lindsay and Jackson Penner were all named to the U17 Team Manitoba roster, which competed at a tournament in Fargo in late June, before heading to Minneapolis, Minn. for the Gopher Classic July 7-11. The Canada Cup will be hosted in Regina Aug. 7-15.

“Pretty much all our graduating guys have the ability to play college at some level,” Cote said.

“Some play other sports, some prefer to join the workforce, but the opportunity is there for all of them.”

The Carillon program will also be well represented at the North American Indigenous Games, which are set to be hosted in Halifax July 15-23. Cote, Dearborn and Lindsay will be joined by Cody Gunderson, Mason Hooper, Cedric Lagasse and Brett Lucko on Team Manitoba.

“We have to be pretty creative with our practices,” Cote said, adding the team is looking to schedule a couple of exhibition games before provincials.

“There’s events every weekend.”

The AAA provincial schedule begins July 28-30, with the 18U championships hosted in Winnipeg South. The 15U and 13U players will get their chance a week later, at St James Aug 4-6.

Two Western Canada Championships will be hosted in Winnipeg this year, with 18U AAA hosted at the Winnipeg South ball fields Aug. 18-20. The Senior AA championships will be hosted in Oak River.

The 22U National Championships will be hosted in Stonewall Aug. 3-6.