Legionaires represent Manitoba at 22U men’s championship

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This article was published 31/07/2024 (496 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was July 26, 2023, when Kaden Rozdeba launched a base-clearing home run into deep-left at Koskie Field in Game 3 of the Manitoba Junior Baseball League championship.

The clutch long-ball was the Strathclair teen’s second grand slam of the series, and the first nail in an 11-0 rout of the Elmwood Giants that secured the St. Boniface Legionaires’ first title in 13 years.

Those fond memories remain vivid a little more than a year later, as Rozdeba prepares to carry out the final chapter of that winning Legionaires team.

“It’s what you dream about as a little kid,” said Rozdeba, who finished his outstanding championship series five-for-11 with a walk and nine runs batted in while scoring five times himself.

“Those are moments that you always want to be a part of and that’s exactly what you play the game for, is to be in that situation and have your teammates’ back and have them support you.”

Rozdeba, 19, hopes to create another big moment this week when St. Boniface represents Manitoba at the 22U men’s championship in Dartmouth, N.S. The eight-team tournament — also featuring teams from Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and two from Ontario and Nova Scotia — begins Thursday and wraps up Sunday.

Manitoba, comprised of 12 players from the 2023 Legionaires and eight other top talents from teams around the province, enter as the defending national champions following the Giants’ triumph at last summer’s tournament, held in Stonewall. It was Manitoba’s first national title in 13 years.

“I’ve been looking forward to it all summer,” said Rozdeba, who will be used as a utility player at several positions. “I’ve talked to a couple of guys who said it’s some of the most fun they’ve ever had playing baseball, so I’m excited for that.”

Rozdeba couldn’t be in a better place as he prepares for his first crack on the national stage. This summer, the 19-year-old, who attends Valley City State University (North Dakota), a program in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, stayed Stateside in Vegas where he played with Southern Nevada for 30 contests against local teams and others in Arizona and California.

It was a valuable experience for the developing player, who learned how to elevate his approach at the plate while facing pitchers with higher velocity and different arm slots than what he was used to seeing.

“We got to see some pretty good competition out there,” he said. “It kept me prepared. I played a lot of baseball out there, practised quite a bit, so that was my main focus out there. All I did was baseball pretty much every day so I think it’ll help me a lot, I feel quite prepared.”

Rozdeba is one of the youngest on a seasoned Manitoban squad with several players returning to the national tournament for a third time.

Experience can be found in all the right places, beginning on the mound where a deep arsenal of starting and relief options will be the backbone of the team and its hope at another title run.

“We’re getting a lot of really good baseball players from a lot of the provinces so we’re going to be seeing a lot of the best and I think for us to have success out there, I mean, it’s simple baseball,” said head coach Jason Evanochko.

“I think we’ve got a lot of good depth, really strong pitching coming in and it’ll be a test for the boys when they get out there to see tournament-style baseball and how we can put it all together.”

Easton Grieve will be near the top of the rotation, and for good reason. The 21-year-old is preparing for his third U22 championship and recently added an MVP award to his mantle after another sensational season in the MJBL as the ace for the St. James A’s.

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With last year’s title under his belt, Grieve said he feels even more confident about this year’s team.

“With the arms that we have, we’re always going to have a chance to win the game — we’re always going to be in it — and, at the end of the day, I think our success is going to be determined on how well we hit throughout the weekend because we know our pitching is going to be there,” said Grieve.

“Obviously, it’s gonna be tough to go out and win it again, especially with not the team being the same but going in as Manitoba, we kind of have a target on our back, so we’re just gonna really go out there and play the game that we know how to play.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

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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.