Slave Lake’s Sawridge Jr. Heat baseball team will start its season in Kamloops at an international tournament this weekend. The Heat actually left last week looking for sunnier weather to train in, after having their outdoor practices cut short by snow.
The Heat move up this year from ‘AA’ to ‘AAA’ baseball, after winning the provincial championships at the Jr. ‘AA’ level last season. Manager Hugh McEvoy expects much tougher competition this year.
“I’ll be really happy if we play .500 ball in our first season,” he says.
The ‘AAA’ season starts on May 24 when the Heat play the St. Albert Tigers at the Terrae Pines field just north of St. Albert. Then on May 31 the Strathcona Athletics are in town for a pair of games.
McEvoy has been recruiting players for the team for several months and that effort continues even as the season gets underway. So far there’s a core of six local players returning, with various imports filling out the roster.
Coaching the Heat this year will be Lindenwood University pitching coach Kevin Bohnert, who brings with him outfielder James Guilliams of West Plains, Missouri to join the team. Bohnert was expected to arrive in town late last week, leaving behind tornadoes in Missouri to drive into blizzards in Alberta.
The returning local players are outfielder Josh Gryschuk, pitcher Brent Blachford, infielder Bryan McEvoy and catcher Blair Sinclair. Outfielder Scott Sinclair is back with the team and Brad Sinclair – who pitched with the provincial champion Barrhead Midget team last summer joins the Heat for his first season as a Junior.
Joining the local players will be J.P. Mailhot and Frederic Rivard from Quebec, Davis Leithman from Richmond, B.C., and outfielder Jeff Lindmark of Spruce Grove. McEvoy says he’s pretty sure Darin Bumgarner – who led the team last year in RBI and batting average – will be back from North Carolina, but it wasn’t confirmed at press time. Catcher Murray Cronk may be back with the team as well.
McEvoy says he’ll be trying to find summer jobs for his players and looks forward to help from local businesses in providing them. Anyone with something to offer can reach him at 849-4101

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