New contender at nationals: Saskatchewan

By Ryan Crilly

Canadian Baseball Network

Growing up in Saskatchewan, baseball has always taken a back seat to hockey.

Baseball in the prairies has long been considered a way for hockey players to stay in shape during the off season and enjoy the warm Saskatchewan summers.

The provincial body Baseball Saskatchewan is changing this perception through the recent success of the program and the completion of the $62-million Gordie Howe Sports Complex. The program is sending more athletes to college than ever before and establishing Saskatchewan as a serious baseball province.

Baseball Saskatchewan’s rise to becoming a competitive program at the Baseball Canada Cup is nothing short of spectacular. Prior to their second-place finish in 2011, Saskatchewan had not seen the podium in nearly 15 years.

In an interview with the head coach of the 18U team and high-performance director of Baseball Sask, Greg Brons said that prior to 2011 “the program was lacking a daily training environment.”

“We didn’t have the indoor facilities to provide a daily training environment,” said Brons.

Unable to provide a daily training environment resulted in Baseball Sask having disappointing finishes in 2012 and 2013.

In 2014, the program was routed in a bronze medal game by Quebec on home soil. Although a frustrating loss, this was one of the most competitive rosters that the province had composed, with almost all of the players on the roster advancing to the post-secondary level.

Building upon success in 2014, the prairie province managed to upset Baseball Ontario in the 2015 Canada Cup semi final. Saskatchewan defeated Ontario as Bryce Rueve hit a one-out single in the top of the seventh scoring one. Carson Perkins would shut down Ontario in the bottom half, working a complete seven innings while only allowing two earned runs.

The 2015 season marked the first time Baseball Sask would play for gold in four years. Saskatchewan was set to face a formidable BC team, which to that point in the tournament owned a team ERA of just 1.51. Not to mention they were also coming off back-to-back championships in 2013 and 2014.

Baseball Sask ended up losing the gold medal game, 10-1. A disheartening loss, nonetheless it was an encouraging result as this was Saskatchewan’s second podium finish since 1996. Losing in the 2015 final allowed the program to understand the amount of work it would take to get back to another final.

The venue for the 2016 Canada Cup was the newly constructed Shell Place in Fort McMurray, Alta. Baseball Sask managed to eliminate both Ontario and Quebec, on their way to the gold medal game.

Once again, Sask would face BC which had the opportunity to win four straight national championships, something no other province had ever done. Both teams started out slow as BC would carry a one-run lead into the sixth.

Four members of the the Muenster Red Sox helped Saskatchewan to the Canada Cup, left to right; Tyler McWillie (Watrous), Logan Hofmann (Muenster), Parker McRae (Nipawin) and Brody Frerichs (Muenster) won gold.

Sask would break out in the top of the sixth with an RBI double off the bat of Nolan Machibroda, followed by an RBI single from Tyler McWillie. Baseball Sask took a 2-1 lead into the seventh and tacked on another four in route to the program’s first national championship since 1994. A monumental accomplishment for a program that was seeking to be recognized as a serious contender nationally.

The 2017 roster would have nine returning players from the championship squad, the most of any team competing. With turning over this many players, Brons talked about how to avoid having a relaxed mindset coming off a championship in the previous year.

“With anyone that was on that team in 2016 and 2017, while we were competing at the Canada Games in 2017 no one was thinking about last year, we were focused on what was important now,” Brons said.

The 2017 Canada Games was important for Baseball Sask because having another good showing would help establish them as a serious national competitor. Team Sask would go 3-3 in round robin play and nudge out BC in the tiebreaker (defensive runs ratio), to advance to the semi-finals against Team Ontario.

When asked about the 2017 Canada Games Brons said, “It wasn’t an easy route for us, we lost a few games, got some luck when BC didn’t score enough runs and they were out on the defensive runs ratio. We had a lot of pitching left and I thought we had the best pitching there, so we just needed to make it to the playoff rounds.”

“Everyone on the team knew we were struggling offensively, but no one was thinking about previous games and our struggles.”

Connor Sparks and Ryan Olchoway would throw a combined four-hitter against Team Ontario to propel Sask to the final against the host province, Manitoba. The stage was set for Saskatchewan to win their second National Championship in as many years against a Manitoba team that was competing for their first National Championship in program history. Manitoba also had the support of a nearly sold out Shaw Park in Winnipeg.

“I knew there was a lot of buzz, and we thought there would be a large crowd but, we didn’t think it would be 7,000 people,” Brons said.

Logan Hofmann started for Sask. Prior to this game, Hofmann had posted an ERA of 3.00 while allowing 10 hits over 10 innings.

Brons had faith about his team’s chances that day.

“We were really confident in our abilities and really confident in the guy we had on the mound that day,” Brons said.

Saskatchewan’s Greg Brons being presented with the Lionel Ruhr coach of the year in 2015.

In the top of the first, the centre fielder committed a costly error allowing for Saskatchewan to cash in their first run of the contest. Both teams were held scoreless until the bottom of the third, where singles off the bats of Connor Sparks and Ryan Olchoway allowed for Saskatchewan to take a two-run lead into the fourth.

That is all Saskatchewan would need for the victory, as Hofmann went a full six innings, only allowing one earned while striking out nine. This secured the province their second National Championship in two years and capped off the best run in program history.

“It’s 60 feet six inches from home plate to the mound and it’s 90-foot base paths it’s the same game,” Brons said. “I say that whether there is 7,000 people watching us in the stands or there is two, we didn’t really do anything different for the last game.”

Brons and Team Sask follow the same perspective every game.

“I have the same pre-game speech every time, I tell the players, this is the same game you play whether you’re in Saskatoon, Weyburn, or Swift Current,” said Brons.

Since 2017, Baseball Sask has not placed on the podium. For the past two years, the program has competed, although Sask has been unable to produce significant results. In 2018 and 2019, the program managed fifth-place finishes in both years.

“The last couple of years without those guys we competed, we don’t have the depth bigger provinces have. If we have one chance to beat them I think we can, but if we have to play them over a few games it’s a lot tougher, especially if we have guys beat up. We lack the depth,” Brons said.

With a substantially smaller population than Ontario, BC, and Quebec, depth is a challenge Baseball Sask faces every year. To overcome this depth problem, Sask relies on the development of players available. With the completion of the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, Brons believes developing players within the province will become easier.

“Here in Saskatchewan we can offer a very good quality program that can help our players to get to certain levels whether that be college or maybe pro ball.”

Brons runs the Sask Academy which is Baseball Sask’s high school academy that operates out of Gordie Howe Sports Complex. Despite the success of the Baseball Saskatchewan program, they still lose some talented high school players to larger programs in Alberta and British Columbia. Players leaving effects the level of competition within the province and waters down the provincial 18U league.

Brons wants to maintain the level of competition in the province by keeping the best players in Saskatchewan.

“I would like to see our 18U league in the province stay at good quality ball,” Brons said. “The competition level is really high and I don’t want to see it get watered down.”

With the completion of the new complex, Baseball Saskatchewan hopes to keep their best players training and competing in the province.

Baseball Saskatchewan is looking forward to competing at the next Canada Cup, but more importantly developing players. Brons wants to see more Saskatchewan born players compete at higher levels.

“Finishing well in Canada Cup is a good measuring stick, but I want to see more of our guys make the Junior National Team, seeing our guys compete in college baseball programs, I’d love to see guys get opportunities professionally” Brons said.

Baseball Saskatchewan’s goal over the next few years is to face better competition, to prepare their players for the next level.

More importantly, Brons said that the most rewarding part of being the high performance director is “staying in touch with all the players, all the players that have been in the academy, all the players that have been with Team Sask, connecting with these guys and seeing them grow up and start their own families, that’s the most rewarding part.”

With the 2020 Canada Cup cancelled, Baseball Sask will look to rebound with a strong performance at the upcoming 2021 Canada Games in Niagara