Grand start for Legionaires

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This article was published 24/07/2023 (1144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The St. Boniface Legionaires haven’t hoisted a Manitoba Junior Baseball League trophy since 2010.

The club came oh so close in 2014 when it lost to the Elmwood Giants 3-1 in a best-of-five championship series. History repeated itself in 2019 when they struck out again on the big stage in four games to the Giants, who would go on to run up five-straight league titles.

Fast forward to 2023 and the Legionaires find themselves as close as they’ve been in the club’s 13-year title drought after a convincing victory over the Giants on Monday.

A grand slam from shortstop Kaden Rozdeba in the sixth inning capped a dominant 7-1 triumph for the fourth-seeded Legionaires over the five-time reigning champion and top-seeded Giants at Koskie Field, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five championship series.

“Our strong suit all year has been hits,” said second-year head coach Jason Evanochko. “We’re going up there with the approach, we’re looking to hit, we’re looking to put bat on ball, we need base runners, we need to score and we need to get the outs. The outs are there, Gotta capitalize on them, minimize errors and just trusting in themselves — that confidence and that staying positive.”

It was certainly a positive outing for starting pitcher Ethan Minaker, who carried over his stellar play from his last start in the semifinal that saw him pitch a complete game on the strength of six strikeouts against Carillon. On this night, the southpaw hurler worked six complete innings, striking out six batters while conceding a pair of hits and walks and a lone run in the first inning.

“My team made a ton of good plays behind me,” said Minaker, 19. “They were really solid defensively tonight, that was awesome. My fastball location was good and my changeup was really good, too.”

Added Evanochko: “Ethan’s been locked in all year. He comes to the park, he knows when he’s throwing, he knows what he has to do, has his game plan, works with his catcher and throws within his ability and he knows what he can do when he trusts in it.”

The two hits charged to Minaker were the only two the Giants could muster. Zach Teffaine pitched well in relief, striking out the side in the seventh inning to shut the door on any late-game heroics.

According to the MJBL’s rules on pitch count, Minaker’s 89 pitches in Game 1 leave him eligible to pitch in Friday’s Game 5, if necessary.

The same can’t be said for Giants’ hurler Riley Craw, whose 117 pitches require him to rest at least five days. Save for a rainout, he will not pitch again in the championship series.

It was a frustrating night for Craw, who pitched well despite what the box score says. The third-year hurler was dinged for five earned runs while walking two and striking out five batters in 6.1 innings of work.

The Giants’ infield struggled in the series opener, as a trio of rather routine balls found their way to the outfield in the early goings, including a high chopper from right fielder Michael Wright that drove in a run and gave the visitors their first lead of the game in the second inning, which proved to be enough for the win.

“(Craw) was throwing well,” said Minaker. “We went up to the plate with a lot of good approaches, had some good (at-bats), pieced together some hits and, yeah, we got the grand slam at the end to end it off.”

Rozdeba spurred much of the Legionaires offence that registered nine hits, going 2-for-4 with four runs batted in and scoring three times himself. Wright finished his night with two hits, a walk and run while Kevin To, who served as the visitors’ designated hitter, added two hits and a walk.

Indeed, the first outing of the series produced rather encouraging results for a Legionaires squad desperate to snap its title drought. But Evanochko will be sure to not let his club lose focus and wake what was a sleeping Giant in Game 1.

“We can’t let today dictate what’s going to happen tomorrow, good or bad,” he said. “That’s a very good team on the other side and they’ve got the capability, they went the distance with Altona last series and we just gotta make sure that we’re ready for the challenge come tomorrow.”

Game 2 will go at Whittier Park Tuesday night (7 p.m.).

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam

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Joshua Frey-Sam
Reporter

Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh.

Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.