I suppose, by pure definition alone, the Premier Baseball League of Ontario (PBLO) is, in fact, a league – as the name implies.
But where many similar loops in other competitive sports adhere to stringent guidelines with regards to schedules, games played and such, the PBLO is more of a facilitator of player development – at least in the eyes of many, including Sudbury Voyageurs head coach Jean-Gilles Larocque.
Some of that flexibility in logistics is by necessity.
Schedules are crammed with games on pretty much every single weekend from the second week of May through to the end of June, leaving absolutely no time to reschedule weekend series that are lost to inclement weather.
It’s not as though parents travelling from Sudbury to Windsor or vice-versa were going to partake in a second lengthy excursion anyways, even if time did permit.
More importantly, the league is created in such a way as to allow aspiring young baseball talent to ease their way in to a very respectable level of ball on a provincial scale at ages 13U & 14U, and then allow for a ramp up for those who have opted to pursue their love of the diamond even more fervently from the 15U to 18U age bracket.
It’s precisely why the entire month of July is left wide open, allowing programs to expose their prospects to the eyes of loads of great baseball folks south of the border. Later this week, the two eldest Voyageurs’ squads will be in South Bend (Indiana), with facility visits and a series of encounters planned for the groups.
A week later, the 13U and 14U Sudbury teams will head to Cincinnati, with many garnering their first exposure to the hotbed of baseball that is the United States of America. The elder reps close out the out of country segment with their participation in a tournament in Detroit, with PBLO playoff championship weekend set for July 24th to the 26th.
This past weekend, the Sudbury 18U Voyageurs closed out league play, if you will, with a set against a Tecumseh Thunder crew that finished their campaign with a record of 17-2, sweeping all three games from the nickel city lads: 8-5, 10-6 and 16-5.
King Mong (4 hits; 3 RBIs; 3 runs), Ethan Thompson (3 hits; 2 walks) and Hudson Fletcher (3/6 at the plate) were among the Sudbury batsmen who provided for some of the offense as the Voyageurs saw their record drop to 8-15.
******************************************************************************On a more positive note: a three game sweep at the hands of the Thunder was not about to ruin the week of Ethan Thompson.
The 17 year-old grade 12 senior at St Charles College confirmed his commitment this past Thursday to join forces with the Highland Community College Cougars in Freeport (Illinois), roughly two hours due west of Chicago.
The Cougars are one of 32 schools under the umbrella of the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Region 4, having advanced to the Sectional Tournament this spring, beating Moraine Valley CC from Wisconsin before being eliminated by Madison College (also in Madison, WI).
A schedule that is dotted with games being contested in Wisconsin, Illinois and a couple of outliers in Iowa had a huge appeal for the young man who started this journey with the Sudbury Shamrocks before jumping aboard with the Voyageurs program a handful of summers ago.
“I liked that it is close enough for us to drive,” said Thompson, a middle infielder who dabbled a bit behind the plate early on before his father / coach (Craig) installed him as a mainstay at shortstop. “It didn’t matter whether it was a little more east, central or midwest – but driving there is nice.”
Slotted number two in the batting order with the Voyageurs, Thompson is not about to blow folks away with his power stats, keenly aware of the role that he must embrace in order to enjoy some success and draw attention south of the border.
“Two main things, really: speed, just because I was never the fastest guy,” he said. “I felt that to get to the next level, I really had to work on getting faster. And I am fairly small. Getting bigger and strong and throwing the ball harder became a necessity for me.”
Having flashed the leather quite impressively at various times in his career with both the Voyageurs as well as the St Charles College Cardinals, Thompson maintains that the defensive skill-set is there to step in and play at Highland CC – as long as the self-belief accompanies the young man to the “Prairie State”.
“It’s just a matter of trusting myself, defensively,” stated Thompson. “Trusting that I have the arm strength, that I have the speed, that I have the talent to make the plays. There are times when every player second guesses himself. To get to the next level, I have to trust myself.”
Thankfully, he need not look far in his search of a local baseball player to emulate.
Gavin Roy was a standout shortstop before accepting an offer to join a community college, leveraging two solid seasons in Kansas to an NCAA Division I offer from the Washington State Cougars – and helping lead WSU to their best post-season run in years as a senior in Pulman this past spring.
“He is somebody that I look up to,” said Thompson. “He went through the same thing I am heading into. It proves that a guy from Sudbury with my size can do it.”
