Saints make plans to be champions again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Sean Previl

The St. Clair College baseball team has started its seventh season with hopes of another championship.

The St. Clair Saints played the season opener Sept. 14 with back-to-back wins and their goal is to win the championships for a second year in a row in October. This is the first time the team will be playing in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association league.

The Saints won most of their 2012 regular season before making it to the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association National Championships, winning 80 per cent of the games including the finals and taking home the championship title.

Saints head coach Dave Cooper said there’s been a large turnover of players but he’s confident with the team they’ve put together.

The team lost a few players and has seven returning members from the 2012 Championship team.

“It’s not a total turnover but it’s a big turnover, we’ve replaced some of the other players with equal talent and we’re optimistic,” said Cooper.

Cooper said the loss of returning players is partially due to their inability to maintain good grades while playing for the team.

“You pretty much have to dedicate yourself to schoolwork and sports and that’s the definition of a student athlete,” said Cooper.

Matt Sykes, a shortstop in his second year on the team, said keeping up with schoolwork while being on the team is all about balance.

“It’s tough.  You have this every day and you have school every day but they help us out,” said Sykes. “There’s a lot of people that help us out throughout the school year and they give you a lot of advantages to do well at school.”

Matt Bassingthwaighte is a third year veteran with the Saints. He said he’s excited about the year because even with new players everyone is working together.

“We have a really good group of guys and everyone’s gelling as a team and the atmosphere is pretty loose so no one feels a lot of pressure, but we’re still here to play baseball,” said Bassingthwaighte.

For a full schedule of the team’s upcoming games, visit http://www.saintsathletics.ca.