News

Five BC Players Head to Florida

Baseball Canada announced the 31-player Junior National Team roster that will compete in the annual Fall Instructional League Camp October 11-21 in Orlando.

Five BC born players have been invited, including West Kelowna's Morgan Lofstrom.  The Mount Boucherie student has had a very busy summer with the Okanagan Athletics and the Canada Cup.

Ryan Watters talks with Morgan about his latest invitation.

The camp includes daily practices and an exhibition schedule against Fall Instructional League clubs from the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays. The schedule also includes one inter-squad game and a match-up with Stetson University in Deland, Florida.

Games against the Braves and Tigers will take place at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, while the juniors will travel to Dunedin, Florida to take on the Blue Jays at the Bobby Mattick Complex.

The Fall Instructional League signifies the beginning of a new cycle for the Junior National Team program which saw all but five players graduate the program following a silver medal finish at the IBAF 18U World Championship last month in Seoul, Korea.

Players returning to the program that were members of the silver medal winning club include Gareth Morgan, Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, Travis Seabrooke and Owen Spiwak, while Jamar Burnette, Dylan Brooks, Sean Ratcliffe, Jordan Schulz, Jason Tarapasky and Blake Weston have all attended Junior National Team camps in the past.

“The Fall Instructional League camp will allow the coaching staff to evaluate players in a competitive environment,” said Head Coach Greg Hamilton. “The strides taken at this camp will better prepare our team for success internationally at future competitions.”

In addition to Hamilton, the Fall Instructional League coaching staff includes Chris Reitsma, Hyung Cho, Mike Johnson and Adam Stern.

The four other BC players invited ae Lachlan Fontaine (North Vancouver), Kurtis Horne (Sooke), Connor Noble (Vancouver) and Tyler O'Neill (Maple Ridge).