The St. Albert Tigers can salvage a subpar season with a winning performance at the senior AAA provincials this weekend in Fort Saskatchewan.
Their losing record includes a 5-9 showing and two playoff losses in the Sunburst Baseball League, plus a 2-5 effort in tournaments.
"We've had our ups and downs this season. We've had quite a few stretches where we've lost three, four in a row and we've come back and, all of a sudden, we start hitting and we win a couple. It's kind of flip-flopped back and forth like that," said pitcher/infielder Craig Tomas.
Friday, the Tigers played the Fort Saskatchewan Athletics, the team to beat at provincials, and the Red Deer Riggers, last year's winner. Scores were unavailable at press time.
Today, the Tigers tangle with the Red Deer Stags at noon and the Parkland White Sox, the first-place team in the North Central Alberta Baseball League, at 6 p.m.
If there are no tiebreakers, the final is Sunday at 3 p.m.
The Tigers last celebrated a provincial title in 2007, their eighth Baseball Alberta title since 1988 and their first since 2004.
"We have to make sure we're prepared and come out and play our game. If we do that, good things should happen, I'm hoping," Tomas said.
A power outage at the plate has left the Tigers in the dark in most games.
"That's the one thing we've been struggling with this year, especially driving runs in with two outs. If we would've had a few more of those hits, we would've won a lot more baseball games this year," said Tomas, who hit .389 in 18 at-bats in the Sunburst circuit and .478 overall in 23 at-bats as the Tigers' top hitter. "We have great hitters one through nine with any kind of a starting lineup, but for some reason, it doesn't click all together at once to get those two, three, four hits in a row. We need more clutch hitting from everybody. That's our sour note on the year."
Early playoff exit
Last week, the Athletics swept the Tigers 7-3 and 6-3 in the best-of-three Sunburst semifinal.
"In that first game, I was pitching and I gave up my first home run all year. I actually gave up three home runs that game [that resulted in four runs]. I left a few pitches over the plate, and if you make a mistake they capitalize on it," Tomas said. "In the second game, our defence, which has been solid all year pretty much with maybe an error or two a game, we had one or two innings where we kind of collapsed playing defence a bit and they scored their runs."
Going into provincials, the Tigers were winless in six games against the Athletics, the 2009 national champions and last year's provincial finalists.
"Compared to every other team in the league, they're pretty much the best all-around team for pitching, defence and hitting. We usually have one or two innings where we kind of collapse and they score a bunch of runs," Tomas said of the first-place Athletics (14-1). "We pretty much have to have picture perfect defence, hitting and pitching against that team. If we do that, I would like to think we have the better team on paper."
The Tigers are armed and dangerous on the mound with the veteran rotation of Sean Maguire, Derek Dallorto, Matt Rindero and Tomas.
"Pitching has always, always been stellar good, one to seven on our roster," Tomas said. "It's just been our hitting that's kind of slowed us down a bit."
After beating up teams over the years, the Tigers have taken their lumps recently.
Last year's provincial hosts finished 1-3 after going winless in six games in 2009, the first time in almost eight years they failed to reach at least a semifinal.
They also finished fourth the last two years in the Sunburst standings with five-win campaigns and were swept by the Athletics both years in the playoffs.
"When teams play us, it's like we're still the team to beat. Every game, right from the beginning of the year, they always come right at us because we're the Tigers," said Tomas, a former midget AAA Cardinal and junior AAA Tiger in his ninth year with the senior squad. "In years back, we set a high precedent, so teams always come firing out at us."
MVP candidate
Tomas has been one of the few bright lights for the Tigers. His 3.00 ERA in three Sunburst starts, while going 2-1 with 14 strikeouts in 27 innings, ranks among the better pitchers in the league.
"I'm not a strikeout pitcher. I rely heavily on my defence all the time. I make teams hit ground balls and my infield makes the outs. The outfield has made some pretty spectacular plays for me out there," said the reliable righty, a stabilizing force at second base when he isn't chucking the ball. "Usually every inning I'm coming in high-fiving everybody, saying, 'Good job.' When they do good, it helps us win."
The electrician also sparked the offence with 11 hits, nine RBIs and one home run in total team stats.
"I've had a few rough years, but this year I kind of changed my stance up a little bit. I'm seeing the ball better out of the pitcher's hand and doing that little bit makes a lot of difference, I guess. I get a few more hits here and there, a few bleeders, and it boosts your average up a little bit," said the leading candidate for the team's MVP award.
