Burnaby Looks to Continue in Underdog Rule at BC Minor Provincials in Nanaimo

The Burnaby Braves will travel to Nanaimo Wednesday to compete in the 2016 BC Minor 15U AAA Provincial Championship. The Braves are the #7 seed in the ten team event and will look to pull off upsets as they did in the Baseball BC Provincial Qualifier three weeks ago when they beat #3 seed Delta in their opening game and followed that with a win against the #5 seed Richmond Chuckers. The Braves qualified for the Provincial with a 20-12 regular season record that far exceeded expectations after a 2-7 pre-season. The Braves season turned for the better on an ordinary Monday evening in April, in of all games, and exhibition match-up against the Coquitlam Reds. Holding a 3-10 record at the time, the Braves rallied from 6-0 down to stun the eventual PBL Bantam league champions. After losing a mid-week league game to drop to 1-4 in league play, the Braves took the momentum and belief from their comeback win against the Reds and pulled out a weekend sweep against, at that point, winless Chilliwack, on an almost forgotten hit that was one of the biggest of the season. With the Braves down by a run and down to their final strike, Williams Camacho-Soto delivered a single that scored the tying and winning runs to cap off a week that would end up being the catalyst for things to come. The Braves would go 11-1-1 over their next 13 games and signaled to everyone their intent to challenge for a provincial berth through league play when they swept a May 1st DH in Cowichan to improve their league record to 7-5. After a challenging stretch of league games and a poor May long weekend showing in Richmond, the Braves found ways to salvage games over the next weeks; notably a comback win against North Island on June 4th, a ten inning win on June 8th against Vancouver Community, and a 4-0 win over Delta on June 15th that ended the Tigers' double digit winning streak. During this time the Braves saw significant improvement in many players. Kyle Kochi, after recovering from an early season injury, got hot offensively and established himself as a solid option behind the plate. Kaz Kada, Lucas Grant, and Michael Briglio each significantly improved their secondary pitch(es) and added depth to the Braves rotation; something that became extremely important with the loss of Williams Camacho-Soto on the mound. Daniel Martin steadily progressed at the plate, making more consistant contact, and added production to the bottom of the Braves order. Jonny Servidad stepped in at third base and continued to progress learning the various responsibilities on cutoff and bunt plays. Players like Evan Hoegler, Jack Yaremko, Brendan Wang, and Sam Van Snellenberg, continued to put up consistent performances and avoided any extended slumps. The team also bonded, thanks in large part to Assistant Coach Russ Kada, who acted as a social coordinator and opened his home to many players once school was out for the summer. The progress made by these players, the way in which the Braves came together as a team, and the wins noted above put the Braves in position to clinch a provincial berth in the final week of the season; someone nobody would have predicted in late April. After escaping Kamloops with a sweep after a Michael Briglio walk-off winner, the Braves sputtered in a disappointing attempt to clinch against Tri City that resulted in a mercy loss. However, the Braves would dramatically secure their place in Nanaimo by coming from 6-0 down in the 7th to defeat the White Rock Tritons 7-0 a week later and one of the most bizarre clinching scenarios one could imagine. After an extremely impressive Baseball BC qualification tournament that saw the Braves fall a game short, the Braves compiled a 3-2-1 record in six exhibition contests in prepration for BC Minor Provincials. The ten man Braves squad know they face significant challenges this weekend in an underdog role but also understand that they are capable of anything. The Braves' provincial starts Thursday morning when they face the Cowichan Valley Mustangs, whom the Braves hold a 2-1 record against this season. Sam Van Snellenberg will start for the Braves. Friday will see Evan Hoegler make the start against the Delta Tigers, whom the Braves have a 4-2 record against in all competitions. They'll finish the day with a match-up against the Vancouver Community Mounties. The teams split two league games and the Braves have a record of 2-1-1 against the Mounties this season. Finally, the Braves wrap up the round robin Saturday evening against the host Pirates. The Braves swept two close league games against Nanaimo in April. Win, lose or draw....unless weather interfers with the schedule, the Braves season will come to an end by Sunday evening. Before that happens, another chapter will be written to conclude a season to remember.