By Dan Estey

The Mississauga SW Twins are back in action in the COBA Major Baseball League for the 2019 season. The veteran club, led by head coach Mike Smith and assistant coach Dave Paish, had an average season last year (for their standards) as they went 20–17–2 overall and 13–11–2 in league play good for third place in the Andrews Division and third place overall in the league.

Last year, the Twins attended three tournaments outside of their league play. They attended the Lakeside Invitational Tournament in London in July. In this tournament, they went 1–2 in round robin play and missed out on the playoff round. Next up, was the annual Hap Walters Tournament. Here, Mississauga was able to right the ship as they went 3–0 in round robin play and then defeated the Mississauga North Jrs by a score of 2–1 in extra innings to advance to the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the Sunday of the tournament was rained out and those games were able to be played. Finally, they attended the Sr. Elimination Tournament in Windsor. The team has seen a lot of success at this tournament in the past but this year the team had a couple of tough games going 2 – 2 and bowing out on Saturday night.

The Twins will be returning most of their roster from last season in 2019. The team will be led by P/OF Mike Cardinale (.305, 22 runs, 29 hits, six doubles, three home runs, 34 RBIs) and RHP Jordan Petruska (3-0, 31 innings, 32 hits, 21 runs, 20 earned runs, 11 walks, 35 strikeouts, 5.45 ERA). Also returning in the field are: 1B/OF Jerome Smith (.472, 15 runs, 28 hits, four doubles, a triple, two home runs, 19 RBIs), 2B/SS Jamie Smith (.375, 24 runs, 20 hits, six doubles, 10 RBIs, 12 stolen bases), 3B George Farid (.333, 12 runs, 17 hits, five doubles, 18 RBs) and 2B Brendan Emmett (.375, 19 runs, 21 hits, five doubles, two triples, 13 RBIs).

Key returnees joining Petruska back on the pitching staff are: James Byrnes (3-1, 2 Sv, 34 1/3 innings, 54 hits, 32 runs, 26 earned runs, 15 walks, 23 strikeouts, 6.82 ERA), Billy Martin (2-2, 1 Sv, 21 1/3 innings, 18 hits, 10 runs, eight earned runs, seven walks, 12 strikeouts, 3.23 ERA), and Tomas Rincon (1-3, 37 innings, 48 hits, 40 runs, 35 earned runs, 27 walks, 43 strikeouts, 8.51 ERA). Catchers John Broll and Jake Zeldin will oversee handling the Twins pitching staff this season.

Mississauga has added four new players for this season and will welcome back another from extended injury. Added to the roster this season are P Stephen Nahrabeki (Humber College), P Kevin Cassar Houghton College), P David Sigmund (Humber College), and OF Alex Thrower (Transfer from Etobicoke). Back from injury is OF Matthew Piccini. Not returning to the club this season are: IF Ryan Santos, P Eric Ventura and Ryan McCree.

The re-tooled Twins will be looking to get back to the top of the pack in both league play as well as in the province in 2019.