The weather might say otherwise, but baseball season is upon us.
The Southeast Twins kick off their Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League Thursday against the Regina Athletics. Their home opener is, weather permitting, Saturday when they host the Regina Wolfpack at 3 and 5:30 at Lynn Prime Park in Estevan. They are also scheduled to host the Athletics Sunday at Lynn Prime Park with the games going at 1 and 3 p.m.
The Twins are coming off a season that produced mixed results. They were a middle of the pack team for much of the regular season but put everything together during the provincial midget AAA playoffs and finished second, which earned them a spot in the Western Canada Championships.
Guiding the Twins this year are Tyson Friesen and Derek Wallace who was a star player on a number of Estevan ball teams before embarking on a college career that included stops in B.C. and North Dakota.
An Oxbow product, Wallace said he is excited to join the Twins and give back to the sport that gave a lot to him.
"It's good to get back in the area here and help kids have the kind of opportunities I did," Wallace said. "It's always something I've wanted to get back into after I was done and last summer I was an assistant coach with the Weyburn Beavers in the WMBL, so this year I thought I would give this a whirl."
The Twins have a roster of 15 with players coming from throughout the southeast corner of the province. Wallace said they have a good mix with a solid veteran presence and some young talent on the club.
He expects that pitching depth will be one of the Twins' strengths this season. He added they will have to do some juggling with the roster as they have a number of kids who play the same position and will have to learn to play in a new spot to get themselves in the lineup.
"It might take a little while to get everybody used to that on defence but I think they are good athletes that will be able to do that," said Wallace who added that returning veterans Garrett Fitzpatrick of Carnduff and Carver Krafchuk and James Giroux of Weyburn are players the Twins will be relying on to have strong seasons.
They have also added pitcher Chris Cooper who had a solid 2013 campaign but was looking for a new club after the Moose Jaw Devons dropped out of the SPBL's AAA division.
Along with their league schedule the Twins will compete in tournaments in Williston, Kenosee Lake and Medicine Hat. The provincial championships are scheduled to begin July 24.
