New format for WP baseball

VAN DER STEL and Helderberg Pirates (formerly Strand Somerset West Baseball Club) have been included in the restructured Baseball Association of Western Province (Bawp) Major League, which starts today.

Van Der Stel have been active for three years now after being dormant for almost 20 years. In the league, increased from eight teams to 10, teams will play two rounds, home and away. Thereafter the top six teams will form the A Section with the bottom four teams joined by the top two teams from the Promotion League to form the B Section.

A Section points will be carried forward, with the B Section starting afresh.

Van der Stel open their season by hosting Maitland Giants in Stellenbosch. Giants had a great debut last season, losing to Bellville in the playoffs after finishing fourth.

Giants will be without Jaydee Thorne, who has moved to VOB, and Brad Erasmus, who has relocated to Gauteng. They have been bolstered, though, by the return of Canadian submarine pitcher Jaz Shergil to add to their two additional foreigners – southpaw pitcher Connor Walsh and catcher Tyler Krobetsky.

Van der Stel, under the guidance of former SA player Bles Kemp, have bolstered their squad with some interesting local and international flavour.

Defending champions Bellville Tigers should have the edge over last season’s faders Westridge Yankees in Bellville.

Yankees faded badly after winning 14 of their first 16 games. The team imploded and never won another league game for the season. Yankees have since parted ways with head coach Benno Johannes.

Bellville will be without the US-based SA players Anthony Phillips and Callan Pearce for the start of the season. Phillips has stayed in the US to play extra baseball in the hopes of securing a long-term contract. Pearce injured himself towards the end of the US season and might not pitch for the season.

Athlone A’s, under the guidance of former national player Ricardo Siljeur (player/coach) have been increasing their youth component to the team.

They will see the return of Lee Marks after injury and have acquired the services of young southpaw Cameron Fortuin to boost the pitching outfit. Fortuin will complement the pitching department of current national players Dean Jacobs, Lloyd Stevens and Carl Michaels