Prince George, B.C.- The Cubans are here!

 

 Ciego de Avila Tigres  arrived at Prince George Airport last evening wearing matching, royal blue Che Guevara t-shirts.   The Cubans were the winners of the 2011 World Baseball Challenge and are eager to repeat that performance.

 

Other teams will be arriving throughout the day with  Japan arriving at 5 pm, Chinese Taipei’s flight will touch down at 8:30 this evening, USA arrives at midnight, and Canadian players are starting to arrive from various parts of the country.

 

Team Canada will have Darren Doucette as its Manager. He is a veteran of the professional and senior ranks who has played in the previous two World Baseball Challenge tournaments.  He is the  manager of the Dartmouth Moosehead Dry, multiple-time national champions.

 

 “I’ve been fortunate to make a lot of friends in Canadian baseball, and I think I called almost every one of them to put this team together – I’m excited to get it going,” said Doucette, a former St. Louis Cardinals organizational player who arrived in Prince George on Sunday.

 

Familiar names for Team Canada will be Charlie Strandlund of Victoria, Dustin Northcott of Edmonton, Jared Johnson of Kelowna, Rob Recuenco of Burnaby, and Mitch Hodge of Vancouver.

Local players include Hunter, Fillion, Foster, Kral, Cole Laviolette, Curtis Sawchuk, Chris Clark, Cortez Chappell, Tyrus Jocko and Graham Allard.

 

Gervais, Kral, Hunter and Fillion were all key parts of the Prince George Axemen winning the 2012 Baseball Canada Senior Championship at Citizen Field last August, as the host team.

 

“We have a lot of players to watch, such as outfielder Jackson Gooch, who was the top hitter at McNeese State last year, former Gonzaga starting shortstop Jason Chatwood  of  Red Deer, and we have two former national junior team catchers in Brooklyn Foster and Larry Balkwill of London,” said Doucette.

 

Here is the Team Canada Roster:

 

Manager – Darren Doucette; Coaches – Trevor Strandlund, Harold Northcott, Darrell Gervais

Catchers (4) – Jeremy Kral (Prince George), Larry Balkwill (London), Brooklyn Foster (Prince George), Cole Laviolette (Prince George)

Infielders (7) – Jared Johnson SS (Kelowna), Justin Fillion 2B (Prince George), Jason Chatwood 2B (Red Deer), Sean Reilly 1B (Toronto), John Waltenbury DH (Toronto), Rob Recuenco 3B (Burnaby), 3B Casey Smith (Kelowna)

Outfielders (5) – Brandon Hunter (Prince George), Aaron Dunsmore (Edmonton), Charlie Strandlund (Victoria), Jackson Gooch (Ladner), Chris Clark (Prince George)

Pitchers (13) – Dustin Northcott RHP (Edmonton), Mitch Hodge RHP (Burnaby), Cortez Chappell, RHP (Prince George), RHP Eric Hall (Oakville/Chicago State), RHP Billy Martin (Medicine Hat/WMBL), RHP David Hatt (Medicine Hat/WMBL), RHP Kyle Mackay (Medicine Hat/WMBL), RHP Skylar Janisse (Windsor), RHP Ryan Eiswerth (Langley), LHP Sean Callegheri (Vancouver), LHP Curtis Sawchuk (Prince George), RHP Graham Allard (Prince George), Ty Jocko RHP (Prince George/Victoria).

 

The opening game of the World Baseball Challenge is set for tomorrow evening at 7: 00 at Citizen Field and will see USA vs Canada.