St. Thomas Tomcat Travis Keys went the distance against Ilderton, in a 14-4 six inning mercy, at Emslie Field. (photo / Rob J. Ross)
Friday, July 14, 2017
By Rob J. Ross
ST. THOMAS, Ont. - For the St. Thomas Tomcats it's all about working towards one goal.
"We play for one tournament and that's the elimination tournament in August. We want to go to Nationals," Tomcats' head coach Bob Lofgren. "We're starting to get serious now."
The Ontario Baseball Junior Elimination tournament is August 4-7th, in Oshawa. The finalists advance to Baseball Canada's National championship, held in Gatineau-Ottawa region, August 17-20th.
Following a pair of wins tonight over the Ilderton Red Army, at Emslie Field, St. Thomas sits in second spot with a 11-3 record, in the Southwestern Senior Baseball League (SSBL).
St. Thomas and the London Badgers are the only junior teams playing in the senior loop.
The Tomcats played in the Junior Inter-county League for a decade, until leaving a few years ago due to lack of competition, finding a new home in the SSBL.
"It's better baseball and less travel," said Lofgren. "It helps our guys. We're playing guys who have played pro ball, college ball, and independent ball. We're facing guys who are really good."
The Tomcats' roster features 15 players on scholarships at American schools.
Game one tonight was the remainder of a suspended game from earlier in the season. The game resumed with the Tomcats leading 5-3 in the fifth inning and finished 9-3.
Dan Lichty shortened the second game, with a walk-off three run homer, as the Tomcats beat Ilderton, 14-4, in a six inning mercy.
A two-run double from Hayden Regnier and a two-run single by Colton Phibbs, helped St. Thomas jump out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning. Two runs came in thanks Ilderton's first of five errors in the game.
St. Thomas Tomcat Hayden Regnier delivered three RBI against Ilderton, in a 14-4 six inning mercy, at Emslie Field. (photo / Rob J. Ross)
Regnier finished with three RBI, while Kevin Bowden had a pair of runs batted in. Michael Mommersteeg, in his first game with plate appearances in two years, set up Lichty, driving in the Tomcats' 11th run.
Tomcats' pitcher Travis Keys tossed a complete game four hitter, with one base on balls.
"We're deep in pitching. We have a lot of first year juniors who are the heart of out staff," Lofgren said. "Our line-up is solid. Tonight we had four starters not here and we still won both (games). We can win close games or blow teams out like (14-4)."
St. Thomas did commit three errors.
"We had a couple tough plays," said Lofgren. "Errors do need to go away, but we are strong defensively. One of the biggest things is when we get to elims, when we have the chance to bury somebody, we have to put them down. It saves pitching, saves innings."
Leading up to the provincial tournament, Lofgren says the Tomcats will focus on such areas of the game as the two-strike approach when moving runners around the bases.
Last year, St. Thomas made the final at the elimination tournament, losing to the Windsor Selects, but did not receive a berth at Canadians. In a rare occurrence, the runner-up in Ontario didn't have a spot.
In another oddity, St. Thomas will face that same Windsor team, in the opener at this year's tournament, on the Friday.