Sarnia Braves Add Four Arms for Canadians Run

By Dan Estey

The Sarnia Braves, fresh off their Elimination win last weekend, have started their preparations for the Canadians by adding four pick-ups to help bolster their roster. The Braves have added RHPs Jack Zimmerman of the Windsor Stars, Kyle Breitner of the Tecumseh Thunder, Tomas Rincon of the Mississauga Southwest Twins and LHP Taylor Pappin also of the Thunder.

Zimmerman had a breakout season for the Stars. The young righty went a perfect 6-0 while also collecting a save in 37 2/3 innings of work. He allowed 10 runs (seven earned) on 34 hits good for a 1.30 ERA. He walked only six batters while collecting 49 strikeouts.

Breitner made the move to Tecumseh full time this year and the veteran hurler didn’t disappoint. He had a 5-1 record on the year in 28 innings of work. He allowed only five runs (three earned) on 12 hits good for a 0.75 ERA. He walked 10 batters while striking out 36.

Rincon is having his best season yet in the COBA Major League. He is 6-0 overall this season in 46 innings of work. He has allowed 14 runs (nine earned) on 29 hits which translates to a 1.76 ERA. He walked 19 batters while striking out an eye popping 64 batters.

Pappin had a great season this year in Tecumseh as well. The young lefty was 2-1 for coach Kell with a pair of saves in 28 innings of work. He allowed 11 runs (10 earned) on 22 hots good for a 2.50 ERA. He walked 11 batters while striking out 24 on the year.

The tournament will open on Wednesday, August 21st with the home run derby at beautiful Ironmen Park in Chatham, New Brunswick. Braves Slugger Julian Service will take part in this contest on behalf of the team. Sarnia opens the tournament the following day as they will take on Nova Scotia 1 at 1:00pm local time (12:00pm EST).

They will follow that up with a pair of games on Friday as they will take on Quebec at 1:00pm (12:00pm EST) and the New Brunswick rep the Fredericton Royals at 7:00pm (6:00pm EST). They will wrap up their round robin games on Saturday when they take on Team Manitoba at 12:00pm (11:00am EST).

The quarter-finals will go Saturday night at 7:00pm (6:00pm EST) with the semi-finals going Sunday morning at 10:00am (9:00am EST) and 1:00pm (12:00pm) respectively. The bronze medal game will go at 4:30pm (3:30pm EST) while the gold medal finale will go at 7:30pm (6:30pm EST)

The Braves currently have a Go Fund Me page set up to help them alleviate some of the costs to attend this year’s Canadians. You can help the team get to New Brunswick by clicking on the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/send-your-sarnia-braves-to-nationals.

Wishing the best of luck to the Sarnia Braves and Coach Grant as they represent Ontario this year at the Nationals. Bring home the gold boys!!