Canucks Open Japan's FISU Games
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Canucks open Japan's FISU Games By Todd Devlin July 29, 2010 As far as Canadian national teams go, they’re somewhat obscure. In fact, they’re largely unknown even within baseball circles in their own country. But for the fourth time, that unknown team -- a collection of Canadian-born collegiate players -- will compete at the World University Baseball Championship, an eight-team tournament this year to be held in Tokyo, Japan from July 30 to August 7. The Canadians find themselves in Group A alongside U.S.A., Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka, while Group B consists of China, Korea, Cuba and Japan. Games will be played at four different ballparks, including Meiji Jingu Stadium, a 37,933-seat stadium that is the home of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Japanese Central League. The event is sponsored by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), and is sanctioned by the IBAF. First held in 2002, the tournament is one of several classified as a minor world championship, and thus the results have an impact on the IBAF World Rankings. Of course, the university squad isn’t the only Canadian ball team in international competition this month -- Canada’s highly-successful junior national team is currently in Thunder Bay, Ontario for the 24 th World Junior Championship. But while a great deal is known about Canada’s 18-and-under contingent, the entry that will take the field in Japan this week remains much more of a mystery. That fact shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the team of university-aged ballplayers come together for just one event -- the bi-annual World University Games -- before disbanding. But despite the short time they’ll play together, there’s reason to take notice of this team -- especially this year. That’s because, just like Canada’s junior national team, this squad is expecting big things in the next few weeks. “We should be very solid,” said Team Canada manager Todd Plaxton (Saskatoon, Sask.), a former junior national team coach who will be making his World University Games coaching debut in Japan. “I expect that we should cross over and hopefully play for a medal.” That expectation certainly isn’t unrealistic. In 2008, behind head coach Terry McKaig (Vernon, BC), the longtime manager of the UBC Thunderbirds, the Canadian team had a strong showing at the fourth installment of the World University Games in the Czech Republic. Though they finished with a 2-4 record, all four losses came by two runs or less (three were by a single run). And two of those were extra-inning defeats, including a heartbreaking 4-3 loss in 11 innings to the eventual champion U.S. team (which incidentally had Stephen Strasburg on its roster). The Canadians wrapped up the tournament with a 3-1 win over the host Czech Republic to claim fifth place. It was the best showing Canada had put forth at the tournament in its three trips to date, and it was thanks to a much-improved roster that for the first time included mostly Canadians playing in NCAA or NAIA baseball programs. The same holds true for 2010. But, according to Team Canada assistant coach Scott Ballantyne (Waterloo, Ont.), this year’s roster is even more improved. The breakdown looks like this: 11 NCAA Division I players, nine players from NAIA schools (including six from UBC), one junior college player (NJCAA), and one player from Ontario University Athletics (OUA). “This team is better for sure,” said Ballantyne, who manages the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in the eight-team OUA circuit. “Both talent-wise and experience. This year we have some guys that have played in it before. In 2008, we didn’t have anybody who had played in it.” One of the returnees is Sheldon McDonald (Spruce Grove, Alta), a left-handed pitcher from UBC who is expected to be a key contributor. In 2010, his first season since transferring from Northeastern University, McDonald went 9-2 with a 2.94 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 70 1/3 innings for the Thunderbirds en route to being named an NAIA West All-Star. “Sheldon is likely our number one,” Ballantyne said. “He had a great year at UBC.” The pitching staff is NAIA heavy, with six arms coming from the association. Joining McDonald is RHP Luis Castillo (Burlington, Ont.), who went 6-2 with a 2.77 ERA for Bellevue University in 2010. In 2009, he was named a Canadian Baseball Network First- Team All-Canadian. The rest of the NAIA arms include three more UBC pitchers, RHP Shawn Hetherington (Tsawwassen, BC), RHP Eric Brown (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and returnee RHP Brandon Kaye (Langley, BC), as well as Brewton-Parker University RHP Drew Parker (Surrey, BC). Rounding out the 10-man staff are a pair of NCAA Division I hurlers -- Texas Pan American LHP Kyle Kotchie (Pickering, Ont.) and University of Arkansas LHP Christian Kowalchuk (Saskatoon, Sask.), as well as Midland Junior College RHP David Walkling (Nanaimo, BC) and University of Guelph RHP Adam Reynolds (Guelph, Ont.), Team Canada’s third returnee from 2008. Of the 12 position players, nine are from NCAA Division I schools. University of Illinois senior Aaron Johnson (Sussex Corner, NB) and Dan Welch (Victoria, BC) of the University of Dayton will share the catching duties. In 2010, Welch threw out 27 of 45 would-be base stealers, an impressive rate of 62.5%. The infield will include 3B Carter Bell (Courtenay, BC), a sophomore at Oregon State University. Bell, a former junior national team member, was a 22 nd round draft pick by the San Francisco Giants in 2008, and is currently #8 on the Canadian Baseball Network’s draft list for 2011. Canada’s group of infielders also includes Mark Ellis (Maple Ridge, BC), who hit .304 with a .408 on-base percentage and an impressive .993 fielding percentage in 55 games for Southern Mississippi State in 2010. Fellow middle infielder Chad Marshall (Paris, Ont.) should also have an impact for Team Canada. In 2009, Marshall led his team -- Stony Brook University -- with 68 hits and was second with a .354 average en route to earning All-America East Second Team honours. Oklahoma City University’s Garrett Regan (Calgary, AB) will man first base. In 2010, the senior hit .362 with 24 doubles, nine home runs and 54 RBIs. Those numbers are similar to those put up by Team Canada utilityman Carl Moniz (Laval, Que.), who batted .369 with 10 home runs and 63 RBIs at Georgia State University this past spring. Going straight by the numbers, Canada’s outfield may be its biggest strength. Greg Wallace (Nanaimo, BC), a senior at Evansville University, led his team in several offensive categories in 2010, including batting average (.371), hits (91), RBIs (75), total bases (166) and slugging percentage (.678). Meanwhile, Ryan Fleming (Whitby, Ont.) and Aaron Dunsmore (Spruce Grove, Alta.) were equally impressive. Fleming hit .375 with a .484 on-base percentage, 59 RBIs and a team-high 13 home runs at Georgia State University, while Dunsmore led his squad -- the University of Dayton Flyers -- in home runs (13), doubles (19) and RBIs (54). A pair of UBC outfielders -- Nic Lendvoy (Langley, BC) and Blake Carruthers (Calgary, Alta.) -- round out Team Canada’s outfield contingent. Lendvoy led the Thunderbirds with a .373 batting average, 18 doubles and 53 RBIs, while Carruthers enjoyed a phenomenal freshman season for the T-Birds, batting .335 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs while earning an NAIA Gold Glove. Carruthers is also on the Canadian Baseball Network’s ‘watch list’ to be drafted in 2011. Collectively, it’s a roster that has bench boss Plaxton excited. And he’s quick to credit fellow assistants Ballantyne and Cavanagh Whitely (Vancouver, BC) for putting it together. “I’m very fortunate to have Cavanagh and Scott on the staff,” Plaxton said last month. “They have been very busy following players online and recruiting.” With the benefit of having both served as assistant coaches at the 2008 Games in the Czech Republic, Ballantyne and Whitely, a former UBC assistant and now manager at Douglas College in New Westminster, BC, took an active role in scouting Canadian collegiate players over the last two years in preparation for the 2010 event. In an effort to field the best team possible, the duo poured over lists of Canadian ballplayers playing at NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA schools, narrowing down the overall number of 700 to a list of about 150. That list was then cut down over the last several months to its current size. “It was a team effort,” Ballantyne said. “There were a lot of conference calls and emails back and forth.” It wasn’t an exact science, and there were roadblocks along the way, but it appears Ballantyne and Whitely did pretty well for themselves. By all accounts, it’s the best roster Canada has assembled in its four years of competition at the World University Games. *** Team Canada’s staff is hopeful that the strength of this year’s roster will not only help further the team’s success in 2010, but also in World University Championships to come. There’s no question that, despite the talent heading to Japan, the Canadian contingent is not a collection of the best 22 university-aged ballplayers from this country. It’s not a knock on the team, it’s just the current reality. One of the reasons is due to scheduling conflicts. If given the opportunity, players often choose to play in elite collegiate summer leagues (like the Cape Cod League, for instance), leaving them unable to play in the University Games which runs at the same time.