In 2015, the South-East Senior Baseball League’s Yorkton Yankees had the strongest season they could have, taking home the provincial championship, league championship and getting voted Saskatchewan Baseball Association senior team of the year. They are starting strong with a pair of wins.
The first game was a cold and rain-shortened affair against the Canora Supers and not the best way to start the season, admits player/coach Mark Jacobs. While struggling against the weather, the team won a the game 2 to 1.
The second win was much better night to play baseball, and the game against the Russell Bulls was a much higher scoring contest, with the Yankees pulling out a 9 to 7 victory over the visiting Manitobans.
“Two wins, but two really close games, and obviously a lot of things we need to work on.”
Those things to work on is defensive play, Jacobs notes, given that defensive play is usually a strong suit of the team but has been a trouble spot in the first two games so far. They also struggled with timely hitting in the first game, but it was already improving by the second.
“[Timely hitting] can be one of our strong points but it can be one of our weak areas sometimes, so it’s nice to see it come through tonight.”
An early highlight is pitcher Logan Calanchie, who was in the whole game against Canora and finished off against Russell.
“He’s been a real horse for us the past few years, and the first couple games this year, no difference.”
Jacobs is also impressed with the play of Dave Morari, and that he will be looking to Morari and Calanchie for leadership in the upcoming season.
“He’s hitting the ball really well and he gave us four strong innings tonight.”
While the pressure will be on to repeat the success of the 2015 season, Jacob does admit it’s not going to be easy.
“Every year you go into baseball, obviously your end goal is to win championships, every team is like that... There are a lot of good teams in this league, so it’ll be a tough year to repeat, that’s for sure.”
The next game for the Yorkton Yankees will be May 19 at Langenburg against the Indians, while the next home action for the team will be on May 24 against the Roblin Stars.
