鶹ýAV

Skip to content

Undermanned ‘AAA’ Expos go 2-3 in Winnipeg

The Parkland Expos’ ‘AAA’ midget baseball team travelled to Winnipeg to take part in the 12-team 2015 Winnipeg Classic Midget AAA Invitational Tournament from May 29-31, joining six teams from Manitoba, three from Regina and one each from Ontario and
Baseball

The Parkland Expos’ ‘AAA’ midget baseball team travelled to Winnipeg to take part in the 12-team 2015 Winnipeg Classic Midget AAA Invitational Tournament from May 29-31, joining six teams from Manitoba, three from Regina and one each from Ontario and Alberta in the quest for tournament supremacy.

The ‘AAA’ Expos took part in five games over the three day tournament, opening the weekend up with a 10-1 victory over the Regina Angels on Friday afternoon.

Saturday evening saw the Expos come up just short in their second game of the tournament, falling to the Winnipeg 鶹ýAV Chiefs 4-3 despite a strong performance by starting pitcher Kholton Shewchuk. “Shewchuk pitched well for us in that second game and went 105 pitches and pitched an awesome game,” said Parkland Expos’ co-coach Aaron Elmy. “The game was just a heartbreaker for us.

“We could have been 2-0 but instead we lost late and were 1-1 heading into Saturday.”

The third game of the tournament Saturday afternoon pitted the Expos against Winnipeg’s Bonivital Black Sox with the Expos downing the Black Sox for their second win of the tournament.

A quick turnaround saw a tired and depleted Expos club face off against the Carillon Sultans, falling to the Sultans before being lambasted by the Thunder Bay Wolves 18-1 in their final game of the tournament. “We had a pretty short bench coming into the tournament and we just ran out of pitchers towards the end there,” offered Elmy, adding that having to make pitching substitutions from players in the field also gives a pitcher a disadvantage. “When you don’t carry a bench it really limits your options, especially for pitching. You don’t have a bullpen so instead of putting someone in from there all warmed up you’re putting someone in from the field that’s cold.

“It puts our pitchers in tough positions where they’re coming into the game not as sharp as they would be had they been able to warm up properly.”

However the short bench also enabled Elmy and fellow ‘AAA’ coaches Stefan Bymak and Tony Black an opportunity to see two future ‘AAA’ players – first year midget Zach Goulden-Maddin and first year bantam Gregor Farquharson – who both impressed the ‘AAA’ brass. “They both filled in very well. In fact Gregor exceeded my expectations. You don’t want to put a kid that age in a position where it’s going to hurt him but we were forced to put him in on the mound because we simply ran out of pitching but he pitched two scoreless innings which was awesome for him and for us,” mentioned Elmy, continuing, “and Zach is a kid that I’m getting to know more and more as he plays for us. I really like him as a player. He’s got some spunk and he’s a tough out and he loves the game and always give a good effort. I’m really impressed by both of those guys.”

The weekend tournament also allowed the Expos to forget about their recent struggles in league play, where they are currently mired in a six game losing streak and sit second last in the 10-team SPBL ‘AAA’ Division. “Getting back in the win column is definitely going to help our guys get their confidence back,” said Elmy. “In our wins we played two clean games and played strong defensively and converted on our opportunities.

“We showed ourselves that we have a strong offensive team and that when we play good defence we can beat anybody.”

Next action

The next action for the Parkland Expos midget ‘AAA’ baseball team will be this coming weekend when they travel to Lloydminster and Muenster for a pair of doubleheaders. The Expos will be in Lloydminster on Saturday before travelling to Muenster on Sunday.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks