The St. Albert Cardinals are anxious to finish what they started by going the distance in midget AAA baseball.
Last year’s team faded down the stretch after winning 12 in a row in the Norwest league and was unsuccessful for the first time in four years at provincials in qualifying for the Tier I final.
“We were really young last year and it was kind of a learning curve for some of these guys coming into midget,” said head coach Cam Houston. “This year we’ve got a good mix of third years, second years and first years and they’re all pretty talented. We’re solid all around the field and we’re deep in arms.
“We’ve definitely got a group that wants to get after it and they seem pretty keen on going out and try and complete the championship run again this year.”
The Cardinals got off to a flying start in Wednesday’s season-opening Norwest doubleheader by sweeping the South Jasper Place Jays at Legion Memorial Park.
“It’s great to be back out here and get two Ws,” said Tylor Jans, a third-year Cardinal and the starting pitcher in game one. “We played the fundamentals of baseball pretty well. Everyone pitched in and got the job down.”
The Red Birds mercied the Jays 10-0 in game one and were victorious 5-1 in game two.
“We scored enough runs that we needed to get the job done today,” Jans said. “A lot of our pitchers were good as well.”
Houston was encouraged by the team’s performance while emptying the dugout to give everybody playing time.
“There was a lot of hustle, a lot of energy. We hit the gaps pretty well with the sticks and guys are flying around the bases and doing some little things. We worked some pitches, we read some balls in the dirt, advanced bases and took advantage of some of the stuff they gave us,” said the dugout boss for the 2014 provincial champions and Baseball Canada U18 national silver medallists and the 2015 silver medallists at provincials and the Western Canada U18 championships.
The 2013 Cardinals, with CJ Jayasekera as the head coach, won westerns after losing the provincial final.
Last year’s Cardinals were 22-16 for fifth spot in the Norwest standings and 30-24-2 overall on the eve of provincials.
“The core coming back here is pretty solid and they know what is expected at St. Albert baseball,” said Houston, noting the first part of last season the Cardinals played “some of the weaker teams” in the Norwest circuit.
A boatload of talent has arrived from the bantam AAA Cardinals, last year’s provincial Tier I champions. The first St. Albert Minor Baseball Association bantam AAA team to qualify for nationals finished fourth at the U15 Baseball Canada tournament.
“The guys that came from bantam are obviously well coached by Sean (Erickson),” Houston said. “We have a good mix. We’ve got some speed, we play defence and we’ve got a lot of arms and obviously we swung the bats pretty well today.”
The bulk of the team roster is comprised of players like Jans, a member of the Prospects Baseball Academy based at Bellerose Composite High School.
“We have expectations to do a lot this year,” said the Grade 12 student.
Jans, 17, tossed three clean innings Wednesday without giving up a hit. He also batted cleanup and in game two started at third base.
The lanky right-hander will be counted on to log prime-time innings on the mound while swinging a big bat after a very successful 2016 campaign with the Cardinals.
“I want to try and be better than last year. I always push myself to get better,” said Jans, who has accepted a scholarship from the Highland Community College Scotties in Kansas.
This weekend the Cardinals play a three-game series with Calgary Dinos Yellow at Foothills Stadium and Tuesday they visit the Parkland Twins at 6:30 p.m. at Henry Singer Ball Park in Spruce Grove.
Wednesday the Cardinals host SEEBA 1, the defending provincial champion, at 6:30 p.m.
