Skip to content

Merchants host Canadian junior team

With fastball teams in the immediate area continuing to dwindle, the Bruno Merchants do not get very many opportunities to host fastball games in Bruno.
Merchants versus Canadian Mens Team
Canadian Junior Men’s National Team member Mac Fischer winds up for a pitch during their stop in Bruno on June 27. Photo by Christopher Lee

With fastball teams in the immediate area continuing to dwindle, the Bruno Merchants do not get very many opportunities to host fastball games in Bruno.

The rare opportunity came to fruition for the Bruno Merchants on June 26 as they welcomed not just any fastball squad, but the Canadian Junior Men’s National Team.

“For us it’s huge because we don’t get a lot of fastball out here anymore. There’s no league in the area so we play all our league games in Saskatoon,” said Merchants coach Ray Bender.

“Years ago we had lots of fastball, we had two games a week and now we’re lucky if we get two games a year here in Bruno.”

The stop in Bruno was part of a tour for the Canadian squad, which will see them tour Saskatchewan from June 26 – July 5 making stops in Saskatoon, Bruno, Warman, Regina, and Shellbrook.

The tour, which saw the Canadian squad taking on the Merchants, Saskatoon Diamondbacks, Saskatoon Cubs, Bulyea Rustlers, Delisle Diamond Dogs, Saskatoon Angels, and Team Japan, is part of an exhibition tour to get the Canadian squad prepared for the 2018 World Baseball Softball Confederation Junior Men’s Softball World Championship in Prince Albert July 7-15.

While the trip is about baseball and getting prepared for the world championships, it is also a great opportunity for the club to visit a part of the country they have never been to before, says Team Canada head coach Jeff Ellsworth, with all but two players hailing from West of Ontario.

“For guys from PEI, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, I don’t know if they ever would have got the opportunity to come here but they’re absolutely loving it.”

While the Canadian squad features just two players from west of Ontario, both are from Saskatchewan, as Ryan Smith hails from Shellbrook and Troy Kosmynka is from Warman.

Seeing the lone western Canadian representation come from Saskatchewan, is not a surprise, says Ellsworth.

“Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and obviously Ontario are the three hotbeds for fastpitch in the country and we had a ton of kids tryout from Saskatchewan. We had a lot of the younger athletes tryout,” he said.

“We’re very lucky to have Ryan Smith and Troy Kosmynka from Saskatchewan on our squad. Both of them play a big part of the make-up of our team.”

The stop in Bruno was an easy decision for the Canadian squad to make, says Ellsworth, calling Bruno a fastball hotbed.

“They have a great team in the senior men’s league in Saskatoon… there’s five big sets of bleachers and they’re almost all full. I come from a small town of 800 people as well so I know how important these events are to small towns.”

The level of talent is also tremendous, says Ellsworth, noting the Merchants were a great opponent as they get set for worlds.

“We just faced Justin Dauvin and Bryan Newton who are two of the better pitchers in the country so that’s what we were looking for,” he noted.

“It’s the caliber of ball that we need to see, that’s going to better prepare us to play against the best countries in the world... There was lots of balls put in play and lots of hits and obviously the pitching that we faced was really good too so it was a huge bonus for us to come out here.”

While the doubleheader was a way to prepare for worlds, bragging rights were also on the line with the Merchants winning both games of the doubleheader.

Bender noted those wins will be huge for the Merchants as they head back into their own league play.

“All sports is confidence and when you beat Team Canada it gives you confidence for the league games. They beat two of the league teams we play against (June 26) so it makes us feel good to beat them tonight.”

The games also help with growing the sport, says Ellsworth, who notes seeing the stands full and all the children in attendance was a nice bonus.

“I’ve seen a lot of younger kids around here with a ball in their hand, a glove in their hand and if we can bring the highest level of under 19 men’s ball to a community like this, I hope it sparks a little bit of interest in the younger generation to go out and aspire to play this some day.”