Mosquito Indians aiming for provincial title on home field
The Swift Current Mosquito Indians will be hosting four of the province’s best baseball teams at the 2014 Mosquito AA Provincial Championship on July 18 to 20.
Swift Current will be challenged by Lloydminster, Prince Albert, North Battleford and Weyburn at the five- team championship tournament starting on Friday.
Mosquito Indians head coach Derek Murdoch is hoping the team can build off a successful 29- 6 season and earn Swift Current’s fourth consecutive Mosquito age provincial title.
“Games where we’ve gotten into trouble are games we’ve kind of put ourselves in trouble,” Murdock admitted heading into the provincial AA tournament.
“We’ve got a very good baseball team with lots of guys who have played lots before.
“We’re working hard when we’re at the diamond, whether it’s practice or games. And when you’ve got good kids working hard, things are going pretty good.”
The team is coming of a league title in the Regina AAA Mosquito League, and Murdoch said they boast a well rounded team which should place them near the top of the field this weekend.
“We’ve got probably as deep a pitching staff as you can have, with some big arms and also some guys that just throw strikes,” he said.
“Offensively, I think no one can hit the ball the way our guys do, 1 through 12, everybody can put the ball in play. And we’ve got some guys with some pop too, so that’s been kind of fun to watch. So we’re a pretty deep team.
“So it’s been fun to coach and fun to just watch the kids play.”
“We think we’ve probably got the best team going into it. But we’re going to find out,” Murdoch added. “If we show up and play our game, we’re pretty confident we’ll have a successful weekend.”
Swift Current will be tested twice on opening day, with a Friday 2: 30 p.m. game against Prince Albert, and after the 5: 30 p.m. opening ceremonies they will be on the field at 6:30 p.m. versus league rivals Weyburn.
On Saturday the Indians open play at 11 a. m. versus Lloydminster, and they wrap up the round robin at 4 p. m. against North Battleford.
Sunday’s championship final between the top two teams is set for noon. If the first place team is undefeated in round robin play, they would also need to be defeated in a 3 p. m. winner take all showdown.