Legionaires well prepped for upcoming season
Preseason double header versus Toronto and Montreal at Kinsman Stadium April 23 and 24
Ken Babcock gives his U16 Oshawa Legionaires some direction during a practice at the Civic Fieldhouse on April 14. The U16 elite team will be starting its first season in the EOBA elite league after Oshawa worked to field teams to enter the league.
After spring training in Florida and a preseason double-header this weekend against teams from Toronto and Montreal, the young players will be well prepared for their season opener on May 1. The club will open their season at home on May 12.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
Before the first pitch is thrown for the Oshawa Legionaires elite U16 season, the club will already have more than 10 games under its belt.
The club, now in it’s first season after Baseball Oshawa pushed for the formation of two elite teams in the Eastern Ontario Baseball Association (EOBA) elite league last year, is exicted to get the ball rolling.
“We’re really putting everything in,” says U16 head coach Ken Babcock. “We’re all-in on this. It’s year one and we’re very excited for the start of the season.”
The club doesn’t have much longer to wait with its league opener, set for May 1. The Legionaires will be making their home debut at Kinsman Stadium on May 12.
“It’s going to be a good team,” Babcock says. “Oshawa is spending a lot of commitment in putting these elite programs together and we’re very excited about where that’s going to head for our programs in the future.”
Despite being in a new league, the players are no strangers to the EOBA.
Oshawas’s U16 team is complete with five players who were members of the club last season, when they competed in the EOBA’s regular division.
Matthew Robinson, Braden Babcock, Aaron Muravski, Evan Love and Easton Currie are all returning to the roster, which is filled out with top EOBA players from across the GTA selected during tryouts this past fall.
This weekend, the club will be in action for the first time on Canadian soil when they take on the Toronto Cardinals and Montreal Titans in a double-header at Kinsmen Stadium on April 23 and 24 starting at 1 p.m. Having just recently returned from spring training in Cocoa, Florida, the club is primed for the games, which will be a solid test for the upcoming regular season.
“That’s really an advantage,” Babcock says of the preseason training.
At 11 teams, the U16 division of the elite league is the smallest of the three divisions, which includes U18 and U15 teams.
This season, the Legionaires will face a range of clubs from across the GTA, including teams out of Toronto, Hamilton, Vaughn, Whitby, Mississauga and Etobicoke.