NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat High Hawks shortstop Jeff Bullock admires his throw to first base in the first inning of an 15-0 win over the Chinook High school Cougars on Wednesday at Jeffries field.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat High Hawks are set up to potentially repeat as provincial baseball champions.
The Hawks took first place in the province and the Alberta Premiere Baseball league last season beating the McCoy Colts in the finals. Hat High’s core is largely made up of players from the championship team, having lost only tow players due to graduation.
While they have the pedigree behind them, head coach Cam Rittinger says they have a long way to go before they can think about the back-to-back title.
“We have a lot of guys coming back from that team, we didn’t lose a ton of guys or graduated guys … we brought back a large core of the team and as well brought in a lot of new young guys too who can play,” Rittinger Said. “We’re looking forward to the season, we expect to be right in the thick of things. We’ll lay it all out there and see where the chips fall.”
Rittinger also coaches with the Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs U18 team giving him even more of a relationship with his older players. He says having that and those veteran Grade 12s makes his job easier.
“When you have a lot of seniors who are able to take charge and show some of the guys the ropes, they kind of just fall in line,” Rittinger said. “We coach these boys in the summer league, too, so there is nothing new for them. They know my expectations as a coach and so everything kind of melds together really nice.”
The Hawks opened their APBL on Wednesday with a decisive 15-0 victory over the Chinook High school Cougars. Trevin Ressler led the way for the Hawks with two hits and three RBIs while also pitching an inning with a strikeout. Koby Eskestrand and Jeff Bullock each had two RBIs and the Hawks walked a combined 10 times.
Tyler Straarup, Eskestrand and Cade Harrison each worked an inning out of the bullpen, with a combined seven strikeouts.
The Hawks’ next matchup is Thursday when they have a provincial rematch with the Colts.
Rittinger says it’s a game they will all be ready for.
“It’s always fun getting to play the red guys there,” Rittinger said. “We love to compete, the coach over there, the guys at the helm are guys who I have coached or they have coached me. So we just have a good little rivalry going.”
That game gets underway at 5:30 p.m. at Athletic Park.
