The Moose Jaw Canucks might not have had the kind of season they were hoping for in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League 18U AA campaign, but they could cap things off on the highest of notes this weekend.
The Canucks will be one of eight teams vying for the Baseball Sask 18U AA Tier 4 provincial championship at Ross Wells Park and Blackwell Diamond, with action kicking off on Friday with a full slate of games.
Moose Jaw opens their provincial run at 5 p.m. on Friday against the Carnduff Astros before doing battle with the Canora Reds at 11:45 a.m. Saturday and finishing off their round robin against the Carrot River Loggers at 5:15 p.m. Saturday. All Canucks games are at Ross Wells.
The Langenburg Miners, Moosomin Rangers, Swift Current 57’s and Saskatoon Amigo A’s make up Pool ‘B’ for the event.
Tiebreakers will take place at 9 a.m. Sunday if necessary, with the top two teams from each pool making the playoff round. The semifinals are set for 12 p.m. at Ross Wells and Blackwell, with the winners there advancing to the gold medal game at 3 p.m. at Ross Wells.
The Canucks finished with a 3-19-0 record in the 13-team SPBL 18U AA regular season.
Dylan Anderson was one of Moose Jaw’s offensive leaders, hitting .295 with an .836 slugging plus-on-base percentage. His 13 runs batted in were second best on the team behind Shaune Reimer, who hit .279 and led the team with 10 runs scored and 15 RBI.
Anderson was also the busiest pitching arm of the Canucks crew, pitching 40 ⅓ innings over nine starts and posting a 4.16 earned run average to go along with 1.73 walks and hits per inning pitched. That includes a stellar outing in the Canucks’ most recent win, a 4-3 victory over the Unity Cardinals back on July 9 where Anderson allowed a single earned run on six hits over seven innings of work, striking out nine.
The Canucks don’t have to look very far for inspiration for success this weekend, either.
Moose Jaw hosted a pair of Baseball Sask championships last week and saw the host teams perform exceptionally well, with the Canucks Grey winning the 11U AA Tier 2B provincial championship and the Cancuks also reaching the title game in 15U AAA Tier III before settling for silver.
For the latest scores from the games this coming weekend, be sure to visit www.baseballsask.ca.
