Giants clean up at Baseball Manitoba Awards
Local club, players, coach honoured
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2019 (2230 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It was a good year to be a Giant.
Last week, the winners of the 2019 Baseball Manitoba Awards were announced and the Elmwood Giants cleaned up.
The junior Giants, who won a second consecutive Manitoba Junior Baseball League title in 2019, were named High Performance Major Team of the Year. Ed Kulyk, who has managed the team to four league titles over the past six seasons, was named High Performance Coach of the Year.
“I’m shocked and humbled,” Kulyk said. “I’m very honoured and surprised. There are a lot of good coaches in Manitoba. This is the first time for me, I didn’t know what to say but ‘wow.’”
Kulyk praised the work of his fellow coaches Joss Perron, Robert Trager, and Dave Nychyk and players in creating a winning culture in Elmwood.
“We don’t recruit heavy,” Kulyk said. “Winning entices people to want to come play for us. The younger kids, if they’re in our area or don’t have an area to play in, they give me a call. If they can play, we’ll take them.”
Meanwhile, Giants’ player Tyler Wood, who also plays baseball at Cameron University in Oklahoma, was named Junior Player of the Year.
“He pretty much carried us offensively,” Kulyk said.
Because Wood was awaiting rotator cuff surgery through most of the summer season, Kulyk added that he was relegated to a designated hitter role. Despite being injured, he was still the league’s top hitter and MVP. Through 46 plate appearances, Wood batted .500 in, with an OPS of 1.471.
“He led by example,” Kulyk said. “He was ready, preparing all those guys to hit.”
As if that wasn’t enough, senior Giant Colten Boudreau was named Senior Player of the Year.
“During the regular season, he batted .373 with team leading 19 (runs batted in), second in the league,” said senior player-manager Bryan McIntyre. “He played solid defense and was always a threat to steal bases.”
Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist
Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. The author of Missing Like Teeth: An Oral History of Winnipeg Underground Rock (1990-2001), his writing has appeared in journals and online platforms across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. A husband and father of two young children, Sheldon enjoys playing guitar and rec hockey when he can find the time. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca Call him at 204-697-7112
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Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist
Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. The author of Missing Like Teeth: An Oral History of Winnipeg Underground Rock (1990-2001), his writing has appeared in journals and online platforms across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. A husband and father of two young children, Sheldon enjoys playing guitar and rec hockey when he can find the time. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca Call him at 204-697-7112
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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