‘This is crunch time’
Panthers are getting hot at the right time and gearing up for important games against London Majors
KITCHENER — Dave teBoek-horst says he doesn’t worry about statistics, standings or just about any other numbers. He only goes by what he sees on the field — and that’s looking pretty good at the moment.
“I didn’t know what our record was until somebody asked me today,” said the Kitchener Panthers manager.
“We’re playing OK baseball, but I don’t want to put any emphasis on making sure we get to a certain point in the standings … We’ll just take our seeding, take our opponent, and go from there.”
With the playoffs around the corner, the third-place Panthers (19-6) appear to be peaking at the right time. Heading into Friday night, the team had won six in a row, with 10 games left in the regular season — three of them against a London team they trail by a game in the standings.
There are encouraging signs all over the diamond for Kitchener.
Sean Reilly, the team’s designated hitter, continues to prove that at age 40 he remains the league’s most dangerous hitter. He leads the IBL in batting average (.451), runs batted in (41) and home runs (14), and the runners-up aren’t even close.
On Thursday night, his bat provided all the power the Panthers needed, crushing two deep home runs in a 13-7 win over Hamilton at Jack Couch Park.
Tanner Nivins, the team’s MVP centrefielder, is looking more and more like the 2016 version of himself after being hospitalized with ulcerative colitis at the start of the season.
He’s changed his approach at the plate, choked up on the bat and increased his batting average to .333. Nivins says his breakthrough came after an 0-4 outing in London a few weeks ago.
“It’s coming along,” he said. “After that game in London, I sat down and told myself I have to make an adjustment because I can’t expect to do what I did last year. Ever since then, I’ve been taking a lot of pitches and choking up, which gives me so much more barrel control.”
It’s been working, and means he’s getting on base a lot more. Nivins has walked 15 times this season — more than all of last season, despite only a third as many plate appearances.
TeBoekhorst may say he doesn’t worry about standings, but his players seem pretty aware this is an important week in their season, with a chance to pass London on the horizon.
Presuming both teams get through the first round of the playoffs, they’d meet in the semifinals — and the team with the better record would have home field advantage.
Mike Schnurr, the Panthers’ most reliable arm out of the bullpen, has been a versatile weapon for teBoekhorst in long relief and as a set-up man. The Kitchener native said he’s happy to do anything that’s asked of him as the Panthers try to claw their way past the Majors.
“This is a crucial time in the season. I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do,” he said.
Mike Andrulis, the team’s veteran second baseman, said home field advantage means a lot to a team that plays in a small ballpark and relies on the home run to power its offence.
“This is crunch time. Everybody is kind of bearing down, taking at-bats more seriously,” he said. “These games are critical. It can be the difference between having Game 7 at home, or Game 7 in London. With the big boppers in our lineup, it definitely makes a big difference for us.”
The Panthers’ winning streak came after an 11-5 loss to Barrie on July 2 when Kitchener failed to get timely hitting and its pitchers gave up 10 walks. After that underwhelming performance, teBoekhorst called out his players to step up their game.
“I think we got a wake-up call,” said first baseman Justin Interisano, who’s hitting .316 and had a 6 RBI night on Tuesday.
“I think we got a wake-up call about what Barrie has done to win three straight championships. Our eyes are wide open now, and I think we finally understand what it’s going to take to beat them.”
The Panthers host the London Majors at 2 p.m. Sunday and again at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. For more Panthers stories, visit therecord.blogs.com/panthers.