HUMBOLDT — In their first season together on the diamond, the 15U AAA East Central Dodgers claimed provincial gold.
On August 29 in Regina, the squad made up of players from Humboldt, Muenster and the surrounding areas rallied in the seventh and final inning to beat the Saskatoon Brewers, 5-4, in the provincial baseball championship tilt. The victory capped a season that saw the team placed second in Evan Thomas Memorial Tournament, named for the late Humboldt Broncos player, and won the Saskatoon 15U AAA Baseball League championship.
“We had a lot of success when it comes to our league as well as some tournament action,” Dodgers head coach Marty Yeager said. “So, going into the provincial weekend, we had a good thing going. … With the depth of our kids, the age of our kids, and the way that the season had been moving along, I think that was all a combination of why we thought we were going to be successful. … We had pitching depth. We were an older team – we only had one first-year player on our team.”
With Dallen Rude throwing well on the mound, the Dodgers grabbed a 3-0 lead early in the provincial title contest. The Brewers rallied to tie up the game at 3-3 and then took a 4-3 lead. In the seventh frame, East Central knotted up the score and was able to load the bases.
“We couldn’t have drawn this up any better to end the game,” Yeager said. “Cam Marshak was our best hitter all season long and he was the one walking up to the plate when it came to the final out, bases loaded in the provincial final, two guys out.”
Demonstrating strong plate discipline, Marshak drew a walk to drive in the championship-winning run. “He was comfortable enough of himself to understand that a walk would get the job done,” Yeager said.
At the 14-team provincials, the Dodgers won its first three pool games – 16-5 over the Regina Expos, 9-3 against the Weyburn Beavers, and 13-1 versus the Swift Current 57’s. In its final pool game on Sunday morning, 3-0 East Central faced the Saskatoon Astros – who were also undefeated. The Astros prevailed 7-4. That set up a rematch between the two teams in the provincial semifinals.
The Dodgers were able to bounce back and win 6-2 to advance to the finals. Pitcher Merek Yeager was a key to the victory.
“He’s been excellent for us all season long. He threw the semi-final, he threw six and a third innings … and he struck out 15 batters. … Just like all season long, he was very consistent. Lots of strikes. Very dominant,” said Coach Yeager, who noted the hurler also had two doubles and drove in four runs in the contest.
The fact that East Central was able to send Merek Yeager and Rude – who Coach Yeager said are two of the best pitchers in the province – to the mound in back-to-back games at the end of the tournament is just one sign of the team’s depth.
“I’m a little spoiled as a coach,” Coach Yeager said. “We had a lot of depth. … There was never really a tournament or a game or anything where we didn’t have options or didn’t have some kids who were available to pitch. We had some kids who could fill many roles. It was a good recipe for success, you could say.”
He and the coaching staff, which included Curtis Strueby and Paul Huls, could not have been more proud of this group or more appreciative of the parent group and volunteers. The team started throwing in February and persevered through a long season. The Dodgers brought together players from Humboldt, Muenster, Bruno, Lanigan, and Lake Lenore. Coach Yeager was pleased to see that the concept of bringing these players together under the East Central banner worked.
“There was a lot of potential there and I think it showed,” he said. “It was nice to see the success there behind the whole idea.”
With a squad stocked with many former foes, the Dodgers did some team building activities to try to bring the group together.
“After we had done some of that team building, our record really reflected our team kind of getting behind each other, taking it and having a strong push to the end of the season. … It was a lot of things that just came together for us through the last six weeks of the season,” Coach Yeager said. “We finished strong.”
Throughout the campaign, the coaching staff emphasized that “effort and attitude” always had to be there. During one team activity, the Dodgers brought in a guest speaker to discuss, among other things, a baseball mindset. The emphasis was on how not everything was going to go well. Yeager said the team learned to not let little things become big. Among the challenges they faced during the season was provincials being pushed back a weekend.
“They just dealt with all the unexpected changes,” Coach Yeager said. “They dealt with the ups and downs the best. They just had a little bit more gas left in the tank sore so than another team. … That was the difference between us winning and us losing. I got to give them a lot of credit. They deserved it. They worked hard and it was a great way to finish.”
Team members included: Ryder Knittig, Carter Huls, Merek Yeager, Dallen Rude, Andrei Aquino, Kacen Hyra, Thomas Ries, Carter Dosch, Chase Sylvestre, Cam Marshak, Preston Dyok, and Rhett Vedress.
