The crack of the bat and the smack of leather were the sounds to be heard as the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs kicked off their regular season with three victories out of a possible four.
The team travelled to Kamloops, BC for games on Mar. 26 and 27.
On Mar. 26, the team beat the Thompson River University Wolf Pack by a score of 15-6 before beating the Okanagan College Coyotes 8-1 later in the day as part of a double header.
Mar.27, the Dawgs beat the Wolf Pack 14-4 in their afternoon matchup, followed by a 10-2 loss to the Coyotes.
The Dawgs are off to a good start and look to build off last years’ strong season which saw them win a Canadian College Baseball Conference championship.
Closing pitcher, Dylan Theroux, was part of last years’ title run and says a strong work ethic is something the team takes pride in.
He’s confident this team has it in them to have another strong season.
“When we practice it’s a go get everything done mentality. We have strong players, good talent and we just work well together,” said Theroux.
The coaching staff has put a lot of effort into building this team and Head Coach, Todd Hubka, says their hard work along the players compete level is what makes this program successful.
“The amount of work the coaching staff puts into the kids and the amount of work the kids put into the program has shown us we can have a lot of success with that,” he said.
Hubka says pitching is the team’s biggest strength, but says offense it something other teams need to be aware of.
“Our hitting is starting to come around like I thought it would. If we continue to pitch the way we can and our hitting continues to get better than we should be hard to beat,” said Hubka.
Theroux agrees with Hubka and believes they will be hard to beat.
However, the success won’t come without challenges.
“We have five championships in a row, so teams are going to have a target on our backs. They are going to want to beat us because we have shown that we are the best team in the league,” said Hubka.
It’s a new season for this team, but the goal remains the same from previous years, to win another CCBC championship.
“I think this team has got the talent and got the players to do that again,’’ said Theroux.
The regular season runs until May 7 with the CCBC championships beginning on May 11.
The Dawgs will be looking to stretch their current title into sixth consecutive championships.
