There’s always a buzz surrounding opening day at the ballpark.
The Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association is ready to get 2017 underway, so long as the weather co-operates.
The association’s flagship team, the Nanaimo Buccaneers college-prep squad, holds its home opener Sunday (April 9) and there will also be a lot of baseball in all divisions in next little while.
“We’ve got a group just a little under 600 that are going to hit the field in the next week or two here…” said Mike Holyk, president of Nanaimo minor baseball. “We’ll just continue the momentum we had last year and if the weather gets better, we’ll get the kids on the field and have another good season.”
He said there is still room in some divisions for players to register; please visit www.nmba.teampages.com.
As for the Buccaneers, they have a fair amount of roster turnover from the team that won provincials last year and represented B.C. at nationals. Holyk said he’s excited about this team’s potential.
“They’ve got the hard job of defending the championship that that team last year won,” he said.
Nanaimo’s bantam AAAs started their season last weekend and have a lot of first-year players this year.
“We’ll be a program that will look to build and learn a bunch of lessons this year,” said Holyk.
Nanaimo’s peewee AA team will have every chance to succeed as the squad will be part of a strong spring league.
“That will put them in a good position when they transition to their summer AAA schedule,” Holyk said.
GAME ON … The college-prep Buccaneers play Richmond on Sunday at noon and 3 p.m. at Mariner Field.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com