Pitching will set the tone between the South Okanagan Minor Baseball Association bantam AA Tigers and Kelowna Reds.
That is what Tigers coach Joel Graf believes as his team hosts the opening two games of a best-of-five series at McNicoll Park Friday at 5 and 8 p.m. for a provincial berth.
āHonestly, I feel that we are a deeper team pitching,ā said Reds coach Chris Jarvis. āOut of the 15 guys we have on our roster, 13 are pitchers. If it goes to full-length five games, the pitching is in our favour.ā
The Tigers earned home field advantage for the showdown as they defeated the Reds 4-3 in the FoFu Final in Cloverdale. Facing each other for seventh and eighth place in the tournament, they decided the winner would host.
āIt was a very intense game,ā said Graf.
When asked what makes the Reds good, Graf said they have depth, pitching and registration.
āThey get to pull out of a larger area,ā he said. āWe only had 21 kids sign up for bantam. To form a team that we have of 21 kids, is pretty phenomenal.ā
Jarvis said the Tigers follow the lead of their high-energy coach.
āThey come out ready to play,ā said Jarvis. āAny let down and they take advantage of it.ā
While Jarvis said his pitchers will make a difference, he also said the team that makes the fewest mistakes will triumph. Most of their games have been decided by one run.
āItās not usually a clean baseball game played by both teams,ā said Jarvis. āWeāre pretty evenly matched ā pitching, hitting and on the field. The more mentally prepared team will come out on top.ā
Tigers second baseman Matt Jones said defeating the Reds will come down to working harder than Kelowna and playing the way they have all year.The Tigers went 13-2 during the spring season, with their only losses coming against both Kelowna teams. When the season wrapped up, the Tigers picked up three West Kelowna players in Sean Haylow, Treyton Waardenburg, and Dylan Faulkner.
Jones, along with teammates Matt Brodt, Chase Decosse and Tayler Kanke played with the Thompson-Okanagan team in the B.C. Summer Games and placed fifth. The main thing Jones gained to bring to the Tigers is more confidence.
Brodt loved playing the best in B.C. and it motivated him to show what he can do. Heās excited to return and lead the Tigers to provincials.
āCanāt be too cocky,ā he said of playing the Reds. āThe pitching and preparation, thatās really going to be key.ā
A small motivational factor to push both teams may come from the friendship between Graf and Jarvis, which Graf described as a shared ācamaraderie.ā Jarvis has known Graf for about a decade going back to their days in the Premier Baseball League when he coached the Kelowna Cubs and Graf played for the Penticton Bats.
āWe donāt like to lose to one another,ā said Graf.
āI donāt like to lose period,ā said Jarvis, who laughed. āLosing to them, honestly, I go into every game feeling that weāre the better team. Losing any game, especially to Penticton, because over the last two years every game is decided by one run.ā
It usually comes down to a mistake. Joel and I have very similar styles. Itās kind of like you are coaching against yourself, just in a different uniform.ā
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