The first time the squad hits the diamond this season will be today in the opening game of the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League regular season.
A wet spring has meant the team has done all its preparations indoors. It looked Friday morning like they would do batting practice Friday evening, but late in the afternoon the clouds opened and rain washed away another opportunity in Cornwall.
Head coach Keith Craswell isn’t too worried.
“Baseball is baseball. You see the ball, you hit the ball,’’ he said Friday morning. “When it’s hit to you, you throw to the proper base. It doesn't change from year to year, so I suspect we’ll be ready to go.”
The Islanders are in Saint John, N.B., today to play the Alpines for a doubleheader at 2 p.m. before hosting the Chatham Ironmen in its home opener on Monday at 2 p.m. at Memorial Field.
When the Islanders take the field, there will be some familiar faces missing.
Sean Corcoran, Dan O’Shea, Josh Kelly, Dylan McKenna, Tyson Blue and Dylan Beck are not back this season. Dillon Doucette has a new job and is going to try to make as many games as possible while Andrew Macdonald (knee) is going to be a player/coach, working with Craswell and assistant coach Ian (Tex) MacDonald.
There are also three junior players making the jump to the senior circuit with Brady Arsenault, Colin Arsenault and Grant Grady.
“I’m expecting them to jump right into the lineup and play well for us,’’ Craswell said.
Infielder Jordan Duffy is also expected to rejoin the team after leaving the province in August for work. Jesse MacIntyre, who joined the team last season, is likely to move to the middle of the diamond this season.
Craswell, who coached the Islanders to their first league title in his first season as bench boss in 2015, is confident in his charges.
“We’ve got the pitching, we’ll manufacture some runs and hopefully we’ll have a good summer.”
With three games this long weekend, Craswell expects all the pitchers to get some work.
The Islanders went 22-10 in the regular season in 2016 before running into a hot Moncton squad in the league semifinal, losing in four games. The Islanders played well at their first nationals in Fredericton, N.B., losing to the host Royals in the bronze medal game in their fifth game in two days.
