Weyburn Beavers first baseman hopes to delay retirement

REGINA — Derek Wallace has every intention of missing out on harvesting season this year.

Rather than riding the combine on his family’s grain farm later this month, the Weyburn Beavers first baseman hopes to be riding the wave into a Western Ma- jor Baseball League championship.

For the product of Oxbow, Sask., this is his last season with the Beavers.

He’d like to delay retirement as long as possible.

“Hopefully I have nothing to do with the harvest this year. That’s the plan, anyway,” Wallace said Tuesday night, prior to Game 1 of an East semifinal series with the Regina Red Sox.

“I hope we can play a few more weeks. It would be nice to give (Regina) a run for their money. I don’t really want to go back to working right away.”

The 22-year-old Wallace insisted his father, grandfather and brother — who all work on the farm during the busy seasons — could shoulder the load while he prolonged his baseball career.

Wallace’s fourth season with the Beavers was a good one.

He posted a .356 average and led the team with nine homers and 38 runs batted in. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Wallace was a steadying force in the heart of the Weyburn lineup, one that endured a few bumps this summer.

Outfielder DeMontez Jones, who batted .375 in 28 games with the Beavers, earned a major-league tryout in early July. Ranny Lowe, the team’s leadoff hitter, was lost to injury during the last week of the regular season. Lowe was hitting .328 at the time.

Despite the losses, Weyburn (19-25) finished third in the East Division and recorded the highest win total during Wallace’s tenure with the club.

“We didn’t get off the greatest start this summer and the guys were really down,” he said. “Just for me to be able to help the team and get things turned around felt really good. To get as many wins as we did, it was nice to be a part of that.”

Wallace plans to return to Jamestown College in North Dakota in the fall to complete his biology degree.