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North Shore Twins
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Wednesday, 10 April 2013 04:47 |
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The Twins are hoping to use the successes of the late stages of last season to set the tone for 2013. After sweeping their opponent in the first round of the playoffs, the Twins kept on winning until the 2013 Championship game where they lost a close one to the Okanagan A’s. This late season uprising gave the Twins their 6th berth in the Final 4 in 8 years during which time they won three consecutive championship rings in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Under the guidance of Head Coach Larson Bauck, 2013 will see the return of John Haar to the Premier League. John will be Bench Coach and will join Pitching Coach Brooks McNiven and Assistant Coach Hovan Patey.
On the mound the Twins will be lead by returning starter Clark Grisbrook who is expected to build on his solid season in 2012. This season we will have more depth on the mound with a rotation which includes returnees an Leo Metcalfd Chris Kuno as well rookie Dylan Thorp. Transfers from other PBL squads have provided us with some nice looking arms in Erik Brownell, Bradley Smith and Brandon Chernoff. Rookie position players andKeenan Williams and Geoff Ehresman are expected to see some time on the mound.
The Twins will be strong and deep behind the plate with veteran Riley MacDonald leading the charge both defensively and offensively. Backup duties will be shared by rookies Trevor Weirsma and Mitchell Grisbrook.
The Twins have a small but experienced group giving us strength up the middle. Veteran and National Team player Lachlan Fontaine returns at third along with Emerson Dohm at second. Rookie Anthony Cusati is slated to move into the shortstop position. We will platoon first base and expect Trevor Wiersma to be part of this rotation.
The strength of the Twins defence is in the outfield, and in the minds of the Twins coaches, may be the best outfield the Twins organization has ever had. Robbey Panico and Tristan Graham are the returning players while Griff Goyer and Keenan Williams, are a pair of Juniors making the jump to Premier. Williams and Goyer both saw a lot of time with the Premier Twins last year.. A young grade 10, Geoff Ehresman will also be patrolling the outfield and is expected to contribute relief innings.
This season, the Twins are optimistic about our chances and expect to see a major improvement to last year’s regular season standing. |
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Thursday, 30 August 2012 00:00 |
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Starting on the week of Labour Day, the Twins will again run Fall Ball seasons for all three of our programs. Starting in early September, seasons typically end around Thanksgiving or when the weather turns bad. Fall Ball is a relatively light combination of practices, games and tournaments in the lower mainland and in some cases the Island, against other leagues and other PBL clubs. It represents the beginning of our 2013 calendar and is an important part of our baseball year. Fall Ball is part of the formal Try-Out period for the 2013 Spring teams. For players wishing to play regular season Spring baseball in 2013 with either the Preps, Junior or Premiers, Fall Ball is critical. Fall Ball, is followed by indoor winter skills and conditioning. (Start dates, costs and location for these off-season sessions will be announced shortly)
All players are welcome for Fall Ball. As the eligibility of Junior and Premier players is bound by territories defined by the BCPBL, it is important that your place of residence falls within the Twins territory or you have a release from the team in whose territory you live. The Twins home territory is everything north of the Burrard Inlet including North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Squamish, the Sunshine Coast and Bowen Island. The Twins share (with the Cannons) small parts of Burnaby and Vancouver south of the 2nd Narrows Bridge which is as follows: Sperling Avenue on the east, Lougheed Highway and East Broadway on the south and Nanaimo Street on the west.
If there are any uncertainties, leave a message on the Hotline and we will address your question.
Startups for the programs are as follows:
Prep (for players who will be 13 or 14 on 1 Aug 2013)
When: 1st practice is at 4:00pm on Thursday the 6th of September…the session is a practice and an opportunity for us to assess the turn-out for the Fall..
Where: Parkgate, at the end of Parkgate Avenue left off of Mt Seymour Parkway just before Mt. Seymour Road
Fall Ball Cost: $300 Payable on the second session
Contact: Tom Nevison, (604) 328-3773, Prep Hotline (604) 983-6444 ext 875 or e-mail at tnevison@shaw.ca
Further information about Prep baseball and our 2012 Fall Ball can be found at www.northshoretwins.com
Junior (for players who will be 15 or 16 on 1 Aug 2013)
When: 1st practice is at 6:00pm on Wednesday the 5th of September.
Where: Parkgate, at the end of Parkgate Avenue left off of Mt Seymour Parkway just before Mt. Seymour Road
Fall Ball Cost: $300 payable on the second session.
Contact: Dave Speers, (604) 789-1045, Junior Hotline (604) 983-6444 ext 877 or e-mail at dslg@shaw.ca
Premier (for players who will be 17 or 18 on 1 Aug 2013)
When: 1st practice is at 4:00pm on Wednesday the 5th of September.
Where: Parkgate, at the end of Parkgate Avenue left off of Mt Seymour Parkway just before Mt. Seymour Road
Fall Ball Cost: $300 payable on the second session
Contact: Rick Elstone, (604) 649-9361, Premier Hotline (604) 983-6444 ext 876 or e-mail at rick.elstone@hotmail.com
With the threat of bad weather being a constant issue in North Van please check the various team Hotlines before leaving for the park. The Hotline is (604) 983-6444 …extension 877 for Junior, 876 for Premier & 875 for Prep. The various hotlines will provide info about any cancellation or change of plans and can also be used to leave a message. The teams augment our voicemail messaging with website postings, e-mails and text messaging. If you have these technologies, it’s a good idea to start using them in order to stay current with team news, plans and schedules. |
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Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:50 |
For the first time since 2009, the North Shore Twins Coaching Staff feels their team has a legitimate shot at making a run for the PBL title. Experienced pitching and solid defense will be at the center of the Twins success, as Larson Bauck undergoes his second season as Head Coach of the Premier Twins squad. Brooks McNiven returns for his third season as Pitching Coach, and is joined by his fellow Giants organizational alumni Brent Swanson. Re-joining the Twins Coaching Staff, after being on hiatus for re-tooling in 2011, are Hovan Patey, and Darius Smith.
The Twins will benefit from a very senior-heavy pitching squad in 2012. The staff returns senior pitchers Adam Aichmair, Kyle Olver, Jordan Kellof, Liam Sakata, and DJ Hunt, who all look to collectively carry the load and give the team a chance to win each game. They also plan to provide guidance and leadership-by-example to grade 11 pitchers Clark Grisbrook, and Leo Metcalf, who can also be expected to contribute, along with Chris Kuno. Currently rehabilitating are Brendan Michaloski and Quin Barber, who plan to step in and add to the team’s pitching arsenal, once healthy.
The catching duties will be helmed by Alex “Bubba” Krickan, Riley “Mack Doe” MacDonald, and Mitch “Nick-names-are-for-losers” Grisbrook.
In the infield, the Twins will boast a left side that should prove to be the envy of the league, with Louis Boyd playing shortstop and Lachlan Fontaine at third base. Keno Magano looks to log significant innings at second base, while Matt Bascom will spend plenty of time at first, along with Kyle Olver and Clark Grisbrook.
The outfield will have a steep learning curve, as George Upton is the lone player with every-day outfield experience, coming into the season. Getting their feet wet will be Tristan Graham and Rob Panico, while Mitch Grisbrook will also lend a hand in anchoring down the outfield.
A successful pre-season, which included a 10-day trip to Scottsdale, AZ, showed the Coaching Staff this year’s squad has reliable pitching, solid defense, timely hitting, but most importantly, great chemistry. The chemistry among the 2012 team is reminiscent of Championship years 2008 and 2009, and the Coaching Staff hopes this is a sign of good things to come for the season. |
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Sunday, 10 April 2011 17:44 |
For the second season in a row, the North Shore Twins have a new Head Coach leading the Premier squad into the season. After serving 3 seasons as Head Coach of the Twins Junior squad, Larson Bauck will be moving up to the Premier ranks and leading the Twins for the 2011 season. Having coached the majority of our current Premier players while they were at the Junior level will give Larson a familiarity with the squad that, along with his experience and expertise, will prove to be a valuable asset. Making the move with Larson from Junior up to Premier will be Assistant Coach Derran Watts, while Assistant Coach Jimmy Rouleau and Pitching Coach Brooks McNiven return from last year’s Premier Coaching Staff.
After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, the North Shore Twins are looking to bounce back in 2011 and re-establish themselves as one of the top teams in the BCPBL. Preparation for the 2011 season began back in the fall, with our fall ball season. From there, players took part in a functional strength development program led by Mike Wilson over the months of November and December. This led into the Twins skill training program which took place at UBC’s Mizuno School of Baseball during January and February, and finished up with the 2011 pre-season schedule which included a 10-day Spring Break trip to Southern California. During the California trip, the Twins played a number of games versus Academy teams in the Greater Los Angeles area, including two games against Pacifica Junior College.
Pitching is an integral part to any team’s success on the field, and senior pitchers Alex Graham and Adam Aichmair look to be up to the challenge of leading this year’s pitching staff. Junior program graduates Kyle Olver and Jordan Kellof both logged significant innings with the Premier squad in 2010, which should help them make a smooth transition to the Premier level, and be ready to make an impact right away. Joining them from last year’s Junior team will be Liam Sakata, along with Twins newcomers Thomas Scarr, and DJ Hunt. All of these pitchers will be counted on for a significant number of innings, but will get some help every now-and-again from Niko Economou and Alex Krickan, along with the occasional Junior call-up. When not on the mound, Economou and Krickan will helm the catching duties for the Twins.
2010 was a learning experience for the Twins infield, as they became better and more reliable as the season went on. The infield now has a year of experience under its belt, and looks to pick up where they left off at the end of last year. Louis Boyd will return as the Twins’ everyday shortstop, while Connor Grisbrook and Junior graduate Lachlan Fontaine will likely both spend time at both second and third base. However, there will be plenty of competition at the third base position with returning senior Connor Merilees, Junior graduate Matt Bascom, Kyle Olver, and Jordan Kellof all looking to get their share of innings at third base while playing some first base as well.
In the outfield, Tanner Robertson will be looked upon to make an impact both in centerfield, and at the top of the lineup. Returning players Brandon Minhas and Spencer Wright will also be expected to use their experience to help lead Junior graduates Jaret Babych, Spencer Shaw, and George Upton in the outfield.
If the 2010 Season taught the North Shore Twins anything, it’s that success cannot be taken for granted, and as a result, the 2011 Edition will be a hungry group that will come to the park each day with something to prove.
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Sunday, 28 November 2010 01:00 |
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The North Shore Twins Baseball Club takes great pride in congratulating Alex Graham, who recently signed a Letter of Intent to attend UBC and play for the Thunderbirds beginning in the Fall of 2011. UBC was Graham's first choice in schools, and he intends to pursue a degree in Engineering. Graham is product of Highlands Little League (North Vancouver, BC) who first joined the Twins program as a Prep. He was a captain of the Junior Twins in 2009 and will be a key leader on the Premier Twins in 2011. At the Canada Cup held in August 2010, Graham earned a gold medal as a member of Team BC; more recently, he pitched for Team BC at the Arizona Sr Fall Classic. The Twins' Head Coach, Larson Bauck, said, ""We are very happy for Alex as he has worked extremely hard to get to where he is at. Alex has shown tremendous dedication to his personal developement and has been a great leader on and off the field for the Twins program." The Tbirds are currently 10th in NAIA preseason rankings after their 7th-place finish in 2010. Graham will join Twins Alumni Keaton Briscoe ('09), Andrew Madsen ('09) and Brandon Kaye ('07) on the Tbirds roster. |
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Wednesday, 05 May 2010 00:00 |
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The 2010 season will see a great deal of change from 2009 for the North Shore Twins, both in player personnel, and in roles for returning players and coaches. With John Haar adjusting his role from Premier Head Coach to Director of Baseball Operations, he will now oversee all 3 teams in the Twins program (18U, 16U, & 14U), while the day-to-day operations of the Premier Twins will be handled by Jordan Wilson, Hovan Patey, and Jim Rouleau. The Twins are also expecting former San Francisco Giants pitcher and current Douglas College pitching coach Brooks McNiven to join the coaching staff once his spring season with Douglas College has ended.
The Twins saw almost their entire starting line-up graduate at the end of the 2009 season, so the 2010 edition will see more than its share of turn-over, along with returning players stepping up into new leadership roles. Though this year’s squad is younger, and relatively less experienced than last year’s, there is no shortage in work ethic. The Twins have spent the winter months working on their skills at UBC’s Mizuno School of Baseball, as well as getting in shape and improving their athleticism at Twist Conditioning. The Coaching Staff is pleased with the progress made, and have noticed more improvement among the group this past winter than they have in any other.
The Twins have a great deal of confidence in their pitching staff, and will expect returning pitchers Brendan Clark, Ty Walker, Dan Altoe and Matt Hall to step into prominent roles, along with new transfer Sean Callegari. The coaches are also very excited about what Junior Program graduates Brendan Michaloski, Alex Graham, and Adam Aichmair have to offer, so there looks to be a lot of competition for starting roles on the pitching staff. Junior Players Kyle Olver and Jordan Kellof will likely be called up to support the pitching staff on a regular basis.
Landon Briscoe will be looked upon to play an impact role both behind the plate and in the middle of the line-up, while Hiro Imata can also expect to catch his share of innings.
With their entire infield graduating in 2009, the Twins will see a whole new group attempt to take the reins of the infield this year. Louis Boyd will be thrown into a leadership role right away, as he will be expected to anchor the shortstop position and help guide an inexperienced infield. Brendan Gaunt and Will McKnight will aim to handle the second and third base positions, respectively, while they will also spend time in the outfield. Utility infielder Connor Grisbrook will also get his share of opportunities, and can plan to be playing any given position in the infield on any given day. New players Connor Merilees and Matt Wenham will compete for playing time at first base.
With 10 players who can potentially play the outfield, this will be the area where there will be the most competition, as well as the biggest challenge to provide playing time. Graduating seniors KP Hlatky, Dan Altoe, and Dylan Brommeland will be given the opportunity to prove themselves as every day players while being pushed by talented newcomers Brandon Minhas, Tanner Robertson, Spencer Wright, and Alex Graham.
The 2010 North Shore Twins will be a young, green, but very motivated group. The coaching staff is excited about the potential of the players coming up from the Junior Program, and eager to see if the returning players can fill the big shoes left by the Seniors ahead of them, both in on-field production and off-field leadership. Coming off of their 3rd straight PBL Championship, the 2010 Twins are not necessarily looking to repeat, but rather win another championship with a new group of guys.
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Friday, 15 January 2010 10:30 |
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In 2009, the Premier Twins guided by John Haar, Hovan Patey, Jordan Wilson and Jim Rouleau set out on the path toward a third PBL Championship. We had the T-shirts from 2007 and 2008 and with a veteran team, went looking for the hat-trick. The team posted a total season record of 52 wins, 27 losses and 2 ties across the 81 game combination of PBL regular season, playoffs and 5 tournaments (including April appearances in the Finals vs Vauxhall Academy in Kamloops, winning the Parksville Best of the West Tournament in May and appearing in the Finals vs Toyota in the Coos Bay Oregon Invitational in July). After spending most of the season in the top 3 of the PBL, the Twins fell victim to a July swoon which by the time the regular season ended, dropped us into 5th place with an identical 29-19 win/loss record to our finish in 2008. The difference was that in 2009, this only got us 5th place and the right to travel to Victoria to begin our title defense against the 4th place Mariners. In what has become an annual habit with the squad, they play best in “must win” situations and shaking off the July stumble, they defeated the Mariners in a best of 3 series on the road to earn their 5th straight trip to the Final 4.
The 2009 Final Four at Langley's McLeod Park was a tournament defined by upsets. The Twins opened the Final 4 with a 5-0 victory over the Blue Jays who had our number all season, while the upstart Chiefs pulled off back to back upsets of the Blaze and then the Jays. In our second game of the tournament, we missed the chance to be masters of our own fate, getting trounced 9-1 by the Blaze. We re-bounded in our next match-up against the as yet undefeated Chiefs, with a 2-1 win. With the round robin standings very much up in the air, the Blue Jays threw another curve into the tournament by upsetting the Blaze 5-3 to seal a Twins vs Chiefs final.
In the Championship game, North Shore scored a 3-2 win over the Chiefs on a sunny and hot Sunday to give us our third consecutive B.C. Premier Baseball League championship title. In the bottom of the seventh, Andrew Madsen lashed a two on, two-out, two-strike single to left-centerfield to score George Halim from 2nd base to make us the first team in BCPBL history to win three titles in a row. Mitch Rainer and Ben Armstrong were there for all three championship victories. Rainer led the Twins to victory during the championship tournament, throwing two complete game wins in three days. While Keaton Briscoe and Mitch Rainer were dominating on the mound, it was Madsen who took care of business at the plate, going six for nine in the team's four games and driving in seven runs.
In 2009, the Twins were again one of the League’s better hitting teams. The July hitting drought came to a timely end beginning with the Final 8 with the veterans showing their experience. During the 2009 playoffs, the Twins got game winning offense from KP Hlatky (.556 OB%), Paul Schipizky (6 RBIs and .478 OB%), Armstrong (4 RBIs and .417 OB%), Madsen (9RBIs and .556 OB%), Keaton Briscoe (4 RBIs and .400 OB%), Mitch Rainer (2RBIs and .333 OB%) and George Halim (9 runs scored and .479 OB%).
The 2009 pitching staff was anchored by veteran Mitch Rainer (12-6) who again proved his worth in big games. Injuries to Cam Foster, Daniel Altoe and Griff Ledingham limited their mound time, but our remaining starters had fine seasons with rookie Ty Walker going 9-2, veteran Taylor Kipnes 9-4, Keaton Briscoe 6-0, Brendan Clark 4-3 and lefty Griff Ledingham 3-3. Nice bullpen performances came from rookie Matt Hall, Dan Altoe, Cam Foster and Stefan Reeves.
In 2009, the Twins rookies acquitted themselves well as they worked their way into the lineup behind our veterans. Will McKnight worked hard to overcome the effects of a long-term football injury which had kept him out of action for a year and a half, Ryan Connolly platooned at 3rd base and showed ability with the bat, Landon Briscoe progressed well in relief of starting catcher Ben Armstrong, Dylan Brommeland contributed timely hitting and some spectacular running catches in left field, Brendan Gaunt brought speed and some nice ball tracking ability to the outfield while Matt Hall and Ty Walker (both still Junior eligible) made the big jump to Premiers and produced some solid start and relief performances. Junior call-ups, Louis Boyd and Alex Graham saw some action in the regular season and were called up for the playoff run.
Graduates
We say goodbye to the following grads all of whom made major contributions to another Championship season:
Ben Armstrong….Odessa College Wranglers…Texas
Keaton Briscoe …UBC Thunderbirds
Ryan Connolly…Capilano University
Cam Foster…Mount Hood Community College Saints, Oregon
George Halim…Huntington University Foresters, Indiana
Taylor Kipnes… Douglas College Royals
Griffin Ledingham…University of Victoria
Andrew Madsen…UBC Thunderbirds
Stefan Reeves…
Mitch Rainer… Hillsboro Community College Hawks, Texas
Paul Schipizky… Pasadena City College Lancers, California Returning for 2010
Dan Altoe
Landon Briscoe
Dylan Brommeland
Brendan Clark
Jackson Forsythe
Brendan Gaunt
Matt Hall
KP Hlatky
Will McKnight
Ty Walker The Twins can look back at what has been a most exciting year not only as a result of the satisfaction of an unprecedented 3rd consecutive Provincial Championship but from the perspective of another long list of team and individual awards and successes, including: 2009 Achievements
September 2008…Premier…Jim Wray Memorial Fall Classic Finalists 2008
April 2009…Premier…Kamloops Best of the West Finalists
May 2009…Premier…Parksville Best of the West Champions
June 2009 MLB 1st Year Draft …RHP Brandon Kaye (North Shore Twins 2007 by the Toronto , Blue Jays, Round 45)
June 2009…Premier…American Legion Post 7 Invitational Finalists
July 2009…Coos Bay Invitational Finalists
July 2009…BCPBL Team of the Year Award
August 2009…Premier…3Peat BCPBL Provincial Champions for 2009
December 2009…No.5 in the Top 5 North Shore Sports Stories of the Year…North Shore News As well as team success, North Shore continued to place Twins on the League’s All Conference teams, boasted League leaders in many PBL categories and placed players from all of our three levels on National, Provincial and showcase teams.
Team Canada Junior National Team Invitations 2009
Keaton Briscoe
Daniel Altoe
2009 BCPBL Awards
Top Achievement…Mitch Rainer…Perfect Game…31 May in a 4-0 win over Mariners
Most Triples…Keaton Briscoe
Most RBIs…Andrew Madsen
Most Plate Appearances…George Halim
Best Team Batting Average…North Shore Twins
Most Team Hits..North Shore Twins
BCPBL 1st All Conference Team
Keaton Briscoe…Infield BCPBL 2nd All Conference Team
George Halim…Infield
Andrew Madsen…Infield
Mitch Rainer…Pitcher 2009 BCPBL Player of the Week
Offensive/ Week 1 Ryan Connolly
Pitching/ Week 2 Mitch Rainer 2009 U17 BC Selects Camp Invitees
Dan Altoe
KP Hlatky
Ty Walker 2009 U17 BC Selects Canada Cup Gold Medalists, Kindersley Saskatchewan, August 2009
KP Hlatky 2009 U19 Canada Summer Games, P.E.I., Team BC…August 2009
Keaton Briscoe
Andrew Madsen
Mike Hole 2009 Pacific Northwest Championship Tournament, Portland Oregon, August 2009
2010 Team BC
KP Hlatky
Cam Foster 2011 Team BC
Connor Grisbrook
Ty Walker
Tanner Robertson
Alex Graham
Brendan Michaloski
Spencer Wright 2012 Team BC
Kyle Olver
Jaret Babych
George Upton 2013 Team BC
Lachlan Fontaine
Clark Grisbrook
Mitch Grisbrook
Arizona Fall Classic, Peoria Arizona October 2009
2009Team BC
2010 Team BC
Landon Briscoe
Brendan Clark
Will McKnight 2011 Team BC
Alex Graham
Hiro Imata
Louis Boyd
Kyle Olver |
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2007-09 BCPBL Champions - Twins!
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