By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network

Caden Griffin and Brandon Deans may have been “from away,” but they certainly welcome in the Atlantic dugout. 

A year ago Griffin (Nepean, Ont.) and Deans (Mississauga, Ont.) combined on a no-hitter as Atlantic edged Quebec 1-0 to win the fifth annual Tournament 12 at the Rogers Centre. 

It wasn’t until the top of the sixth inning where Atlantic finally broke the scoreless tie as Jake MacKinnion (Mineville, NS) brought home Max Grant (Fredericton, NB) from third on a single to give floor the only run of the game.

Okotoks Dawgs’ Micah McDowell (Coldbrook, N.S.) was named tournament MVP, scoring three runs, stealing four bases, with two RBI on a weekend that saw hit .308. His OPS (On-base plus slugging) was .708.

McDowell and MacKinnon are back hoping to win again, along with Nick Gravel (Fall RIver, NS), Daniel Hogarth (Concepion BaySouth, NL), Noah Duckworth (Charlottetown, PEI), Evan O’Toole (Bridgewater, NS), Cam Brewer (Concepion Bay South, NL), Ryan Scott (Quispamis, NB) and Ben MacDougall (Summerside, PEI).

Shaking hands in the Atlantic dugout were Matt Clark (Woodstock, NB), Steve Donahue (Mount Pearl, Nfld.), Darren Doucette (Halifax, NS) and Ken Lenihan (Bedford, NS).

This year former St. Louis Cardinal farmhand, Doucette, former Vauxhall Academy Jet and Lenihan, hard-working MLB Scouting Bureau scout, will be joined by Corey Wood (Fredericton, NB) on the staff in the sixth annual T12 at the Rogers Centre next month. 

In all, eight former majors leaguers (Rob Butler, Denis Boucher, Andy Stewart, Nigel Wilson, Mike Johnson, Stern, Robinson and Orr) among the coaches and seven ex-pros. Plus the Blue Jays alumni will be there as Hall of Fame commissioner Robbie Alomar watches from the action seats.

Coaching Staffs
Futures 
Chris Begg (Uxbridge, ON)
Rob Butler (East York, ON)
Hyung Cho (Toronto, ON)
Brock Kjeldgaard (London, ON)

Atlantic
Matt Clark (Woodstock, NB)
Darren Doucette (Halifax, NS)
Ken Lenihan (Halifax, NS)
Corey Wood (Fredericton, NB)

Quebec
Alex Agostino (St. Bruno, QC)
Denis Boucher (Montreal, QC)
Bob Fatal (Boucherville, QC)
Ivan Naccarata (Montreal, QC)

Ontario Green
Pete Orr (Newmarket, ON)
Chris Robinson (Dorchester, ON)
Adam Stern (London, ON)
Tanner Watson (Arnprior, ON)

Ontario Black
Rick Johnston (Peterborough, ON)
Andy Stewart (Oshawa, ON)
Mike Steed (Beamsville, ON)
Nigel Wilson (Ajax, ON)

Prairies
Jim Baba (Moose Jaw, SK
Andy Boehm (Brandon, MB)
Greg Brons ( Saskatoon, SK)
Glen Hunter (Winnipeg, MB)

Alberta
Jeff Amos (Oyen, AB)
Alan Cox (Okotoks, AB)
Mike Johnson (Edmonton, AB)
Les McTavish (Stettler, AB)

British Columbia
Evan Bailey (Kelowna, BC)
Jamie Bodaly (Langley, BC)
Corey Eckstein (Abbotsford, BC)
Geoff White (Kelowna, BC)