Atlantic peewee championship opens today

Grand Falls-Windsor Braves and the host St. John’s Capitals are among the eight teams entered in the 2012 Baseball Canada Atlantic peewee (12-13 years) championship which opens today in St. John’s.

Joining the Braves and Caps are the Bridgewater Bulldogs and Tri-County Rangers from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island’s Charlottetown Royals and Summerside Chevys and the Monton Cubs and Fredericton Royals from New Brunswick.

Until 2009, Baseball Canada staged a national peewee championship, but the tournament was split into regions — west, central and east.

St. John’s placed third three years ago in Moncton, finished 2-2 and out of the playoffs in 2010 in Summerside, P.E.I. and was winless in four games last summer in Halifax.

“The goal,” said Caps coach Sean Gulliver, “is to reach the medal round. We’re in a strong division (Charlottetown and Bridgewater are both provincial winners) which could make things a little tougher, but we were in Moncton a month ago for a warm-up tournament and finished 2-2.

“Of those teams in Moncton, a number of them are here. Our pitching is pretty good, and I think if we play to our potential, we’ll put ourselves in a position for a shot at a medal.”

Games will be played at Lions Park and Wedgewood Park ball fields, with Sunday’s bronze-medal and gold-medal games set for Lions Park.

The Caps won the provincial championship last month, whipping the Braves 15-0 in Grand Falls-Windsor. St. John’s finished the all-Newfoundland tournament 3-0, while the Braves, Mount Pearl and Corner Brook all finished with 1-2 loss records. Grand Falls-Windsor advanced to the final as a result of the tie-breaking system.

Rosters

St. John’s Capitals

Jaxon Gulliver

Joel Abbott

Evan White

John Cribb

Raygan Gulliver

Ryan Morgan

Michael McCarthy

Josh Langmead

Philip Edwards

Ian Smallwood

Benjamin Clouter-Gergen

Dylan Mackey

Head coach: Sean Gulliver

Assistant coaches: Glenn Cribb, Colin Abbott

Chef de Mission: Juan Edwards

•••••

Grand Falls-Windsor Braves (GFW)

Tyler Anthony

Mark Janes

Adam Dawe

Laura Horwood

Qasim Dogar

Matthew Janes

Michael Maher

Jordan Goodland

Adam Crant

Ethan Browne

Michael Hurdle

Ryan Ricketts

Adrian Pinsent

Dylan Tulk

Head coach: David Janes

Assistant coaches: Chris Grimes, Jamie Jenkins

Chef de Mission: Gene Crant

Trainer: Robert Inder

Schedule

THURSDAY

Lions Park

3 p.m., Summerside, P.E.I. vs GFW

6 p.m., Opening Ceremonies

7:30 p.m., St. John’s vs Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Wedgewood Field

3 p.m., Tri-County, N.S. vs Fredericton, N.B.

7:30 p.m., Moncton, N.B. vs Bridgewater, N.S.

FRIDAY

Lions Park

8 a.m., GFW vs Fredericton

11 a.m., St. John’s vs Moncton

2 p.m., Tri-County vs GFW

5 p.m., Bridgewater vs St. John’s   

Wedgewood Field

8 a.m., Summerside vs Tri-County

11 a.m., Charlottetown vs Bridgewater

2 p.m., Fredericton vs Summerside

5 p.m., Moncton vs Charlottetown

SATURDAY

Lions Park

10 a.m., 4th place Pool B vs 4th place Pool A

1 p.m., 2nd place Pool B vs 1st place Pool A

5 p.m., Skills Competition

Wedgewood Field

10 a.m., 3rd place Pool B vs 3rd place Pool A

1 p.m., 2nd place Pool A vs 1st place Pool B

SUNDAY

Lions Park

10 a.m., bronze medal game

1 p.m., gold medal game