COBA Major Preview: Brampton Royals

Slugger Marco DiRoma is back with the Brampton Royals this season after hitting .357, with six doubles, a triple, a home run and 24 RBIs),

COBA Major Preview – Brampton Royals

By Dan Estey

The Brampton Royals had a very up and down 2018 season in COBA Major Baseball League action. The club, led by coach and GM David Flannigan, finished 2018 with an overall record of 22-24-1 including an 11-16-1 in league play to finish fourth in the Andrews division and 5th overall in the league.

The veteran loaded club will be looking to take some strides forward in 2019 to climb the ladder in the league.

The Royals attended three tournaments on top of their league commitments in 2018. In early July, they attended a tournament in Ottawa where they went 3-2 and finished in second after a tough loss to Thornhill of the GTBL in the finals.

A few weeks later, the attended the Hap Walters tournament where they didn’t get the results they wanted going 1-2 and missing the playoff round. At the Senior eliminations in Windsor, the team got hot on this weekend as they managed to reach the “Final 5” of the tournament going 4-2. Unfortunately, they bowed out with a tough 10-8 loss to a strong Strathroy squad in this round narrowly missing out on the semi-finals on the holiday Monday.

The Royals, as mentioned before, will pretty much be returning the core of their roster from the 2018. Some of the key returnees coming back for coach Flannigan are: C-3B Marco DiRoma (.357, 16 runs, 30 hits, six doubles, a triple, a home run, 24 RBIs), 1B-DH Victor Speciale (.368, 14 runs, 28 hits, seven doubles, 20 RBIs) and P-1B Joesph Ferreira .323, 10 runs, 21 hits, four doubles, three home runs, 12 RBIs/3-1, 4.91 ERA, 29 1/3 innings, 31 hits, 23 runs, 16 earned runs, 31 strikeouts, 22 walks).

The Brampton squad will add a couple of bodies this summer as Kosta Kafes and Arman Lakhani will both make the jump to Brampton. Kafes is an outfielder who played last season with the Capital City Reds in Ottawa. Lakhani, a pitcher, will make the jump from the Hamilton Cardinals of the IBL to play this summer with the Royals.

Not returning to the club for the 2018 season is C/3B Anthony Quintana. He had very limited playing time in 2018 as he collected only 15 plate appearances batting .186 with a pair of doubles, a run and an RBI.

The Royals will be looking to improve this summer and solidify themselves as one of the top teams in the COBA Major Baseball League. The veteran squad with their two veteran pickups will look to get back on track as they will open their 2019 season on Tuesday, May 7th on the road at Clarkson Park against the Mississauga Southwest Twins.

They will open the home portion of their schedule two days later when they will welcome the Milton Red Sox to Dave Dash Memorial Field.