Okotoks Dawgs and the WMBL playoffs

[Dion]

Dawgs clinch top division seed, ready for WMBL post season

With a 32-14 record prior to Friday, they had reason to celebrate their Western Division title. They’d won eight of their last 10 games — including Thursday’s 10-0 whitewash of the Fort McMurray Giants to clinch the division — and out-scored their opponents 89-39 and had three batters in the top-20.

Now, starting Monday and Tuesday at Seaman Stadium in Okotoks against the Edmonton Prospects, the real fun begins.

Their playoff lineup of starting pitchers will include Ian Scott (4-0, 2.91 ERA), CJ Lewington (6-0, 2.83 ERA), Liam Stroud (2-2, 3.38 ERA), Nick Vickers (2-2, 5.72 ERA), and Garrett Ciuk (3-2, 3.83 ERA).

Unfortunately, they’re losing a handful of players who are headed back to their respective homes for the start of college/university, including left-handed pitcher Sam Wong, starting outfielder Daniel Frederickson and starting shortstop JT Patterson. Such is the nature of summer baseball.
Regardless, the Dawgs are planning to get the job done.

Regardless, the Dawgs are planning to get the job done.

“We’ve got a few guys out of position, and we’re going to lose a few more heading into the playoffs, so we’ll deal with that,” Graham said. “I think if we pitch well and our bats show up, we’ll have success in the playoffs.”

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/base...bl-post-season

[Dion]

Final League Standings:



Team Leaders:



Batting Stats:



Attendance league wide:

[Dion]

As mentioned in my original post the Dawgs will host the Edmonton Prospects in the first 2 games of this best of 5 series. Games 1 and 2 are on Sunday and Monday night - 7:05 Seaman Stadium in Okotoks. Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4 will move to Telus Field in Edmonton with Game 5 (if necessary) returning to Seaman Stadium in Okotoks.

Should they win the first round they would meet the winner of the Medicine Hat vs Lethbridge series for the West title.

The winner of the West title will play the winner of the East for the league championship.

This is high quality baseball and worth the price of admission. plus a great way to spend a summer evening.

Playoff tickets can be purchased online. Prices are $20 for any seat and $10 for the grass berm on the left field line. Children 12 and under receive FREE berm admission when accompanied by an adult.

http://od1.glitnirticketing.com/odti...usersYear=2016

Seating chart:

[Dion]

Dawgs playoff preview:

Dawgs head into the playoffs with several players swinging a hot bat. Daniel Fredrickson (Gonzaga) with a .287 average and .424 on base %, including 21 RBIs leads off for the club, followed by Oregon State's Elliot Cary. Cary, who is coming off an injury, joined the Dawgs late in the regular season but found his stroke of late to raise his average to .293 with 3 home runs. The middle of the Dawgs order features Brendan Rose (UBC) who sits at .356 with an on base % of .453 and a team leading 58 hits, Michael Gretler (Oregon State) who leads the club with 36 RBIs and is hitting .331 with 4 home runs and cleanup hitter, Kellen Marruffo (Utah) who leads the club with a .378 average including 6 home runs, 14 doubles and 32 RBIs.

Also contributing to the Dawgs 1st place finish were Dawgs Academy call up, Justin King, who in just 13 games has 6 doubles and a .367 average, Blake Rowlett (E. Tenn) batting .330, Josh McIntyre (WSU) .306 with a team leading 14 doubles and JT Patterson (NE Co) ..299 with 2 HRs. Catcher, Joel Brophy (Niagara) enters the playoffs on fire as he batted .500 over the final 4 games of the regular season with a HR.

Dawgs feature a deep rotation and bullpen led by CJ Lewington (Arkansas Pine Bluff) who led the team with 6 wins and Liam Stroud (Niagara) who with the shut out win over Ft. McMurray lowered his ERA to .337 with a team leading 45 strikeouts. Lefty starters, Ian Scott (Lewis Clark, ID) and Garrett Cuik (Mission, CA) have also given the Dawgs stalwart performances with 4-0 and 3-2 records respectively.

A major part of the Dawgs pitching success has been an outstanding bullpen led by Lewis Clark State's, Anthony Baldaras. In 20 innings, Baldaras has struck out 26 batters with a minuscule 0.90 ETA. Tyler Burdett (Dixie State) has also been lights out out of the pen with a 2.45 ERA in 20 innings pitched. Newcomer, Taylor Davis (Lower Columbia, OR) with an ERA just over 3.00 and Nick Vickers (NE Co), with 5 shutout innings in his last outing, have also been excellent of late. Christian Parsons (Lower Columbia) leads the Dawgs with 7 saves.

http://www.dawgsbaseball.ca/News.aspx

[Jbo]

Was at the Saturday game last weekend against Edmonton and had an absolute blast! Great baseball, great prices and overall great time. Bust loose put together a bus from Hudson's downtown and tickets/bus/beer was 35$ bucks. Great value and recommend anyone craving some live baseball to check it out.

[Dion]

Game 1 suspended due to rain and hail. The game will resume tomorrow @ 4:05 PM (Seaman Stadium) with Edmonton leading 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th inning. Game 2 will follow right after the completion of the first game.

[keratosis]

I can see the stadium from my bedroom window, lights still on and can here cheering. Unless it's people just happy to be alive.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by keratosis

I can see the stadium from my bedroom window, lights still on and can here cheering. Unless it's people just happy to be alive.

Not sure what's going on. Maybe the Dawgs are holding a practice session.

July 31st Game Suspended Until August 1

Sunday July 31, 2016

Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Club
July 31, 2016
For immediate release
Okotoks, AB...Tonight's game against the Edmonton Prospects has been suspended due to poor weather which resulted in unsafe field conditions for players. The game will resume tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. Immediately following game 1, the Dawgs and Prospects will play the originally scheduled game 2 at 7:05 p.m.

After game 1, Seaman Stadium will be completely cleared to allow for customers who have valid tickets for game 2 to enter. Tickets for today's game can be used tomorrow for the remainder of game 1. As per our rainout policy, tickets can be exchanged for another game but NO REFUNDS WILL BE ADMINISTERED. For a full breakdown of the Okotoks Dawgs rainout policy click the link here: http://www.dawgsbaseball.ca/Tickets.aspx.

http://www.dawgsbaseball.ca/news.aspx?id=781

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by Dion

Not sure what's going on. Maybe the Dawgs are holding a practice session.



http://www.dawgsbaseball.ca/news.aspx?id=781

Yah, probably. Just took a bit of a walk on the Cimarron path above the river.
Looked like it was just grounds crews. Must have been kids in the river valley partying.

[Dion]

Dawgs bats go silent...

When you compile a total of 8 hits over 2 games you're not going to win many baseball games. The Presidents Trophy winners were clearly frustrated as they tried to solve the Edmonton Prospect's pitching. They lost both games of the double header by scores of 7-2 and 5-2, leaving themselves a game away from an early playoff exit.

The series now moves to Telus Field in Edmonton for game 3 and if necessary game 4. Should the Dawgs win both games they would return to Okotoks on Thursday for the deciding game 5.

[Dion]

[Dion]

Dawgs rebound with a solid performance beating the Prospects 6-3

[Dion]

Dawgs season is over!

They lose 10-5 to Edmonton, who will now face Medicine Hat in the West final. A season that showed so much promise coming crashing down. A shame as this was one of the best Dawgs teams ever assembled.

[Mister Yamoto]

Thanks for posting all the info Dion. Maybe try a regular season thread next year?

[CMPunk]

Ya, I might have realized the Dawgs season was almost over and would have tried to make it to a game, but I didn't see anything til the play off thread. I just figured they went later in the year.

[mrkajz44]

The Dawgs season is always over so fast. Basically runs for the months on June and July, with playoffs maybe extending into August. Every year I tell myself I should go more often and promise to do so, but the short season always makes it harder than I think.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Yeah, this is about the third year in a row I told myself I would go and didn't (weather didn't help). I was hoping there would be a game 5 for me to go to.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by CMPunk

Ya, I might have realized the Dawgs season was almost over and would have tried to make it to a game, but I didn't see anything til the play off thread. I just figured they went later in the year.

The Dawgs are part of a development league with players coming from colleges and universities in Canada and the United States. They only have the months of June and July and up to the 15th of August to play before all players return to their schools.

[Dion]

Okotoks Dawgs lament first-round WMBL playoff exit

And the WMBL, a predominately summer college league, is unique in its demands from players.

“Part of it is coming to terms with a changing college landscape,” Dawgs managing director John Ircandia said on Thursday. “Some of the top college players play much longer now. You don’t get them until later, and when they get here, some of them have had a pretty long season.

“That’s a factor.”

“It’s obviously disappointing; this is the third year in a row that we’ve exited in the first round of playoffs,” Ircandia said. “Of those three last years, this is the first time we finished first in the regular season and won the President’s Trophy … to me, that’s a great accomplishment. And I also can’t say enough about the fan support — that’s part of what we want to do.

“But I do like to win, and we’ve already had some conversation about what’s missing in our recipe to take us to the next level.”

All WMBL teams face the same challenge of recruiting players at the end of their college season and convincing them to play a few extra months before returning to school.

But as well as trying to attract the top university/college talent from Canada and the U.S. to compete for the Dawgs at the palatial Seaman Stadium with their first-class training facilities, Okotoks is focused on developing players from within their academy system.

Over the course of the season, they had six players who were still high-school aged.

“That’s good news and it’s challenging news,” Ircandia said. “It’s good news that we’re going in the right direction of having locally developed products that come back for the summer and have the opportunity to play in front of our fans here. But it’s transitional in the sense that they’re still freshmen and still in high school and still young … it’s a challenge.”

Ircandia said he was pleased with the first-year coaching staff, including head coach Tyler Graham, who currently serves as an undergraduate assistant coach at Oregon State University, and pitching coach Andy Peterson, also out of Oregon State.

“Over the course of the year, they got some better insight to how competitive the league is and the quality of players they need to win,” Ircandia said. “They wouldn’t have had that before. They have a better idea of the player that’s necessary to succeed … those are things we’re looking forward to.”

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/base...l-playoff-exit#

[Dion]

An update on the WMBL playoffs.....

The Swift Current Indians swept the Edmonton Prospects in 3 games to win the league championship. Scores were 2-0, 2-1 and 5-2