The core of the Sudbury U18 Voyageurs team were part of the U16 crew that surprised PBLO (Premier Baseball League of Ontario) onlookers two summers ago by taking home the banner at the year-end weekend playoff tournament.
And while that is the goal as they reassemble the gang again this summer– with a small handful of key additions – it won’t be an easy goal to reach. The fact remains that the Sudbury crew were a sub-.500 regular season team in 2022 before capturing lighting in a bottle through a magical four game playoff run.
Still, this is nothing if not a resilient bunch, one of the first Voyageurs entries in the U14 PBLO age bracket and rewarded with only four or five wins that inaugural season in league play.
“It was just the group that we have,” noted 17 year-old middle infielder Félix Aubin from Hanmer. “We would all hang out outside of the game and stuff – and we put our trust in J-G (Baseball Academy owner and U14 head coach in 2022 – Jean-Gilles Larocque) that it was going to progress and get better.”
“Doing that really helped us just go out there and have fun.”
The U18 Voyageurs open the 2024 season with a four-game homestand this weekend opposite the Ontario Yankees from Ajax, with games set for 4:30 and 7:00 on Saturday and 2:00 and 4:30 on Sunday, all at the Terry Fox Sports Complex.
A big part of the reason for optimism within the Voyageurs ranks lies in the ability of the local talent to perfect their craft in the off-season, with the Baseball Academy on Lorne Street certainly comparable to many of the offerings found in other parts of the province.
“The most progress I have shown is probably this winter,” said Aubin, noting that it was in the batter’s box where his focus lie these past few months. “The whole mental side of hitting: being able to recognize pitches, being able to reset and go pitch to pitch, at bat to at bat – just to be in the present.”
Part of a ten team loop this year that sees the Sudbury lads criss-crossing the province to face the likes of the Ottawa Nepean Canadians, the Tecumseh Thunder in Windsor, the London Jr Badgers and the Kingston Jr Ponies, Aubin suggested that their current home for league play best prepares them for the challenges of trying to crack a post-secondary school lineup.
“I think for me, I want to see that (top talent),” he said. “I’m happy to see good arms out there, good teams. I like when we play those competitive teams. It’s more of a grind and when we get the outcome that we want and we deserve it, it’s very rewarding.”
With PBLO play running through much of May and June, teams get the month of July to arrange for tournament play south of the border, making for a very busy summer with plenty of travel.
“A lot of guys will say they like playing at home but I like going to different parts of Ontario, just going out and playing everywhere. We’ve been playing in the league now for three or four years so we’re starting to get some rivalry teams. I’m really looking forward to those weekends.”
Every bit as much the unbridled pony in the stable, catcher Alex Frawley is ready to be unleashed for another summer of baseball fun. “I’ve been dying to get out on the diamond,” emphasized the young man who was converted from an infielder to the pitcher’s battery mate back in his U16 season.
“Defensively, I feel like I’ve taken a big jump this off-season so I’m excited to get out and play defense.”
No surprise that given a skill-set that is as position-specific as that of the catcher, it took a little while to really round in to form behind the plate. “My mobility – my hips were super tight and I wasn’t able to get to many balls to block anything. I transitioned to a one knee kind of set-up, lower to the ground.”
“In the first few games, balls were going straight to the backstop. It was bad.”
Thankfully, for as much as Larocque is an all-around baseball man, his time as a player was also spent as the most protected man on the field – catching gear being what it is and all.
“Every Saturday for the whole winter, we had catcher practice with J-G,” said Frawley. “It was just me and four other guys, so it was a lot more one on one with him, a lot more conversations.”
“We were always talking baseball,” he added. “What stances and what approaches stole the most strikes. How you shift your chest and kind of hide the glove from the umpire.”
While the Sudbury talent is key, there is little doubt that the addition of the Bracebridge trio of Mark Holm, Aaron Hicks and Nate Parsons as well as Thunder Bay native Jack Barber help to make the U18 Voyageurs even that much more well-rounded. And unlike some sports, developing on field chemistry on the diamond is critical only at certain times.
“In baseball, there are a lot of plays that are cut and dry,” explained Frawley. “It’s not like hockey or basketball where you have to play off each other a little bit more. We can kind of plug guys in and they know what to do.”
They will need to based on the expectations at hand.
“I think this is our year,” said Frawley. “All of the boys want a championship. I think that’s pretty much the obvious goal.”
As stated at the outset, it won’t be easy – but the road to a title begins this weekend.
Rounding out the U18 Voyageurs roster are William Arsenault, Callum Baron, Justin Dandenau, Noah Leveille, Devan Madore, Liam McNiven, Graham Noseworthy, Liam Norman, Noah Portelance, Nicholas Signorile, Brady Soucy and head coach Kurtis Winrow.
Also opening PBLO play at home this weekend are the Sudbury U14 Voyageurs, also facing the Ontario Yankees with game times set for 10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
