Trail native Cam Strachan and eight other Thompson Rivers University WolfPack players were chosen as Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) all-stars for 2013.
The eight were honoured along with the other all-stars and major award winners at the CCBC championship banquet held at the McArthur Island Curling Club in Kamloops Thursday.
Strachan, along with catcher David Hole, outfielder Brent Carmichael, utility infielder Brendan Reid and pitcher Wataru Asaoka were all chosen as first team all-stars.
Second baseman Kyle Sandulescu, right fielder Luc Simpson, utility player Erik Herbranson, and pitcher Alex Reid were selected to the second all-star team.
After pitching for the WolfPack the past two seasons, Strachan moved to a field position in 2013 and played first base along with being the team’s regular designated hitter. He hit .393 with 18 runs batted in, two homers, two triples and seven doubles.
TRU finished second in the regular season, finishing with 20 wins and eight losses, three games back of first place Prairie Baseball Academy.
The team looks to win its fourth championship and first at home, as TRU hosts the CCBC championship tournament this weekend at Norbrock Stadium in Kamloops.
“It has been an issue for us not winning here,” says WolfPack head coach Ray Chadwick. “ The excuse has been a lot of distractions for the guys like taking care of the field or what’s going on in the stands—we are doing everything but concentrating on playing. It is an excuse. We should play the game like we do on the road any other time in the regular season. We can take care of the ball this weekend and if we do we will be successful.”
Thompson Rivers kicked off tournament playing the Vancouver Island Baseball Institute Mariners of Nanaimo,Thursday night but the score was unavailable at press time.
There are four games and the home run derby planned for today, while round robin play will wind up with three games Saturday, and the chance of a third place semifinal. The first place team from the round robin automatically earns a berth into Sunday’s 1 p.m. final. The semifinal match goes Sunday at 10 a.m.
Pat Brown, also a Trail native, is assistant coach for the WolfPack.