Tony Tabor of the Sun Devils beats the throw to first base against the Kelowna Jays during the 2014 provincial championship. Kamloops won the tournament, earning a berth in the 2015 national championship. KTW file photo
It has been a long time since the Kamloops Sun Devils had a summer with so much on the line.
The Sun Devils will again play their regular season action in the Pacific International League (PIL), going up against the likes of the Seattle Studs, Everett Merchants and Northwest Honkers.
They will also have the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament (KIBT), tournaments in Kelowna and Grand Forks and will play host to the 2015 B.C. senior men’s provincials.
But, the highlight of this season will no doubt be the 2015 Baseball Canada Senior Men’s National Championship in Chatham, N.B.
For longtime Sun Devil Will Devick, entering the season knowing Kamloops will compete for a national title brings a new level of excitement to the summer.
“We’re just pretty amped up — we know that we’ve got a big year and we’ve got to do well before we get to nationals,” Devick told KTW.
“We haven’t really gotten any games under belts yet, so there’s no sense of urgency yet. But, once we start playing games and seeing where we’re at, up against the other teams, we’ll start to adjust.”
Kamloops won the 2014 B.C. provincial title, defeating the Langley Blaze in a 16-inning thriller, to earn its berth in the 2015 national tournament.
The Sun Devils, a summer team made up entirely of Thompson Rivers University players and alumni, will return their entire roster from 2014, along with a few notable graduates from this year’s WolfPack.
They will also again have the services of Kyle Dhanani, who played minor professional baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
“We went to the senior provincial championship game and, sort of like TRU, we’d go to the game and we couldn’t get the final out of that game and come out on top,” said Sun Devils coach and manager Ray Chadwick.
Prior to 2014, the Sun Devils had gone more than 25 years without a provincial title.
“We finally pulled it off last summer after going three years in a row. It took us fifteen or something innings, but we got it done.
“So, now we get to go to nationals and that’s a big thing. It’s really big for us.”
The Sun Devils are confident their current roster has what it takes to repeat as provincial champions and even win a national title.
In 2014, after losing to Kamloops in the provincial championship, Langley went on to capture the national title as Team B.C.
Kamloops will send a team to the junior national championship in Regina as well. The junior national championship is for under-21 players.
Provincial and national tournaments aside, the Sun Devils are also hoping to return to the winner’s circle of the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament.
For Devick, KIBT has always been a season highlight. The shortstop/third baseman said the tournament is a close second on the calendar to nationals this year.
“Year over year since I started playing in KIBT at 17 or 18, [the highlight] has been KIBT,” Devick said. When he was playing college baseball in Kentucky, the Kamloops native made a point of flying home every summer to play in the tournament.
“I loved it, I never regretted coming home. I kind of built it into every season, to come back for KIBT.”
With the WolfPack set to begin PIL season play May 23, a big summer for Kamloops’ senior men’s team is finally getting underway in the Tournament Capital.
And, having never had so much on the line, the expectations have reached new heights.
“B.C. won the nationals last year,” Devick said. “If we could win nationals, there’s not much more for a guy like myself to win, out of Kamloops anyhow.”
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