The Regina Red Sox have been humming this season in every aspect of the game.
The team is now poised to make a run at their first Western Canadian Baseball League championship since 2012.
“We expect to win, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” said first baseman Kody Hanna. “Every lineup we put out there plays their butts off and competes every single game.”
Starting pitcher Colton Anderson boasts the league’s best earned-run average this year, with fewer than three runs allowed per game.
Better yet, the Red Sox also have depth at the position.
“We have Daniel Crabtree, we added Ayden Page, we have Tyler Fortin, we have a number of people that can back each other up in different situations, ” Anderson said of the team’s bullpen.
Get daily Regina news
“We have starting pitching and then, if the starting pitching isn’t going too well, then we have relievers that can come in and step up for them. Then we have some lockdown closers.”
The Red Sox are no slouches when it comes to hitting, either.
Hanna led the WCBL in runs-batted-in this season, with a total of 64.
That balanced attack led to a 38-and-18 regular season record, good for first in the Eastern Division and home-field advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Anderson admitted that playing in front of a packed crowd of 1,000 Red Sox fans was intimidating, at first, but he now embraces the support.
“It’s pretty cool, I’m playing in front of 900-1,000 fans, and most of them are rooting for you. I think that’s huge, especially when you get to playoffs having that many fans rooting for your team,” Anderson said.
The Sox haven’t hoisted the WCBL’s Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy in more than a decade, but there is a belief within the team that this year’s group has the tools to go all the way.
“It would be great to have that as a memory of doing this for Regina,” Hanna said.
Game One of the Sox best-of-three series against the Moose Jaw Express goes tonight, with Game Two in Moose Jaw on Thursday. Game Three, if necessary, will take place on Friday in Regina.