Goldeyes Notebook

THE Goldeyes will hold their first Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame Game today at 1:30 p.m. at Shaw Park, when the 2012 inductees to the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame will be honoured.

The inductees, led by former Goldeyes pitcher Donnie Smith, will be honoured in a pre-game ceremony prior to the final game of a three-game set with the Gary SouthShore RailCats.

The Goldeyes will wear replica uniforms of the 1986-90 Hamiota Red Sox, who will be inducted in the team category. The unis will later be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the Goldeyes Field of Dreams Foundation and the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame.

Other inductees are players Wayne Gullett (Wawanesa), John Lesyshyn (Dauphin), Bob Pardine (Binscarth) and Bill Nicholson (Transcona) and builders Alex Campbell (Brandon) and the late Ernie O'Dowda (Winnipeg).

The Mutcheson family and the 1981 Manitoba Bisons 18- and 19-year-old team (special category) will also enter the hall. The 1983-88 Grosse Isle Blue Jays and the 1964-69 Rivers Comets join in the team category.

The official induction ceremony was Saturday night at the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in Morden.

GOLDEYES manager Rick Forney said the Goldeyes are still looking to play their best baseball, as the 10-4 team saw its four-game winning streak end Saturday in a 4-0 loss to the RailCats.

"We haven't played good, consistent baseball night-in and night-out for nine innings," Forney said.

The Goldeyes have won five games in their last-at bat and have come from behind five times to win.

"You overlook a lot of little mistakes at the end of the day, coming out on top. You could very easily be 3-7, 3-10, when you're winning those baseball games late. You can just as easily lose them if you're running into a team that plays good defence and has a good eighth- and ninth-inning pitcher. We're fortunate to be where we're at, but I don't think we've played our best baseball yet."

GOLDEYES outfielder/first baseman Jon Weber saw his hitting streak end at 11 games as he went 0-for-5 on Saturday. He leads the Goldeyes with seven multi-hit games and has four extra-base hits, all doubles.

RAILCATS manager Greg Tagert won his 800th game last Wednesday, just before arriving in Winnipeg. Tagert is now 801-642 as a professional manager and 389-306 with the RailCats.

Tagert has never had a losing season in his 16 years as a manager and led the RailCats to championship titles in the now-defunct Northern League in 2005 and 2007.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 3, 2012 B4