They’ll be looking for a David to take on Goliath as Baseball NL’s first provincial championship of 2019 begins this evening in Corner Brook.
Three teams are competing in 2019 Molson Coors provincial senior “B’ tournament at Jubilee Field, but don’t be fooled but the name. This isn’t a second-tier competition, but rather the first step in the process to determine the opposition for the defending champion St. John’s Capitals in the senior A championship later this month.
The Capitals are the Goliath mentioned above, by the way. St. John’s has won 17 of the last 18 all-Newfoundland titles, the lone exception being 2013 when Corner Brook wrested the crown from the Caps. However, it should be noted that the Barons came pretty close to claiming the title last year, taking the Capitals to a seventh game in the provincial final.
You might even say there is a sort of a secondary David-Goliath story in this weekend’s double round-robin competition. That’s because Corner Brook has been the senior B champion the past seven years, including 2018, when the Barons downed the Gander Pilots in the final.
Those two teams will meet in today’s opening game (6 p.m.) at Jubilee Field. It will be a doubleheader day for the host team as Corner Brook will also face the Mount Pearl Blazers at 8:30 p.m.
The rest of the weekend schedule:
Saturday
Noon, Mount Pearl vs. Gander
4 p.m. Corner Brook vs. Gander
8 p.m.. Mount Pearl vs. Corner Brook
Sunday
10 a.m., Gander vs. Mount Pearl
2 p.m., Final or tiebreaker
6 p.m., Final (if necessary)
