Burnaby Braves Bantam AAA 2009 Provincial Chapions

 Back Row: Brendon Diu, Taran Kingsbury, Dan Saunier, Parker Kynoch, Steve Chatzispiros, Richard Forbes, Dustin Saunier

Middle Row: Keno Magano, Byron Prasad, Michael Spencer, Justin Gadey, Michael VanHombeeck, DJ Hunt
Front Row: Sean Coulson, Alex Bott, Josh Wray, Taylor Ginnetti, Ryan Mew

 

 

You can follow Team BC Live on their "Quest for Gold" by clicking here: http://www.baseball.ca/bantamboys/index_eng.cfm?content=home

 

 

 

	Monday »Â August 17 »Â 2009
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Thank God for little brothers   Tom Berridge Burnaby Now Saturday, August 15, 2009   It was a miracle finish for the Burnaby Minor AAA Braves baseball team in part to the spirit of a little boy. Down 13-7 entering the seventh and final inning at the B.C. AAA bantam baseball championship to host Rutland, Burnaby Braves head coach Parker Kynoch played his trump card. "We're like little Devins. We're not going away," Kynoch told his players, referencing player Justin Gadey's younger brother Devin, who had been a constant hanger-on around the Braves' dugout all season long. It made the Burnaby Minor players laugh in the midst of a seemingly insurmountable deficit. "He (Kynoch) told us to believe. We were like Burnaby Devins who never go away. We're like him. It was a smart move because we play a lot better when we're relaxed and not uptight and tense," said Burnaby second baseman and hero of the game Michael Van Hombeeck. With the score level at 13-13, with one man on base and two men out, the Notre Dame student smacked a two-and-one pitch over the centre field fence for the game-winning RBI. "It was just amazing. It doesn't feel real," said Van Hombeeck, who along with D.J. Hunt and Josh Wray were the only second-year players on last season's young Braves team. That team won only nine starts in just its second year in the AAA division last season. "We didn't have high expectations but the coaching was unexpectedly great and then it just clicked," Van Hombeeck said. The team finished fourth overall in league play, just one game behind runners-up Victoria and North Delta. The Vancouver Mounties ran away with the season title with a 33-3 record. Byron Prasad started the seventh-inning rally with a leadoff base hit. Brendon Diu knocked in two runs with a double and Keno Magano launched a towering two-run home run to get the rally going. Sean Coulson then cranked a solo dinger, his second of the game, and soon after, Hunt, a Burnaby Mountain product, smacked a seeing-eye single past the third base and short stop to put the tying run on base. Michael Spencer, who had come up big with key runs in two tournament wins earlier this season, cashed in pitch runner Justin Gadey from second with a base hit to right field that just stayed fair. That brought up Van Hombeeck. "It was a no-doubter," Kynoch said of the game-winning blast. "I just remember seeing the ball going over the fence. I was jumping as high as I could. "I looked back and saw Taylor (Ginnetti) and Alex (Bott) coming with a cooler of Gatorade. But I just let them pour it over my head. It's probably one of the best feelings in my life. "It was a pretty special moment and a very special group of kids. It honestly feels like magic. I still have tingles when I tell the story." Josh Wray of Burnaby was arguably the Braves tournament MVP. The all-purpose Burnaby North slugger had a .650 batting average through seven games, including 11 runs scored and seven steals. Eight of his 11 RBI went for extra bases, including five doubles, one triple and two home runs. Ryan Mew threw four-and-a-third innings in the final game in his third appearance on the mound in the tournament. The Braves lost 16-8 to Vancouver in earlier pool play, but came back to win a tiebreaker 5-2 over the Mounties. In that game, Gadey pitched a complete outing, allowing just three hits and striking out nine for the win. In the semifinal, Taran Kingsbury went five-and-two-third innings for a 12-7 win over Victoria and a spot in the B.C. final against Rutland. "To get up in that last inning they truly did believe in each other, and that was the difference," Kynoch added. For the Braves coach, it really began in the sixth inning, when Coulson took a questionable call first strike and looked rattled. The two talked during a time out, and when Coulson stepped back into the batter's box the Burnaby North student sent the very next pitch over the fence with a three-run dinger that closed the deficit to 8-7. "When that happened, I knew we weren't going away," Kynoch said. "We got a few breaks, and you could really feel it was a really special weekend. You couldn't have writtten it out better as a fairy tale. It was indescribable," Kynoch added. The Braves will now represent B.C. at the Canadian bantam championships in Vaughn, Ont., beginning Aug. 18. ©Â Burnaby Now 2009

 

 

Burnaby NewsLeader Burnaby Braves win bantam baseball title in dramatic fashion By Grant Granger - Burnaby NewsLeader Published: August 12, 2009 1:00 PM Updated: August 12, 2009 1:19 PM   It was the stuff sappy scripts are made of. The Burnaby Braves won the provincial AAA bantam baseball championship Sunday when Mike VanHombeeck hit a walkoff two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh and final inning to cap a dramatic eight-run rally to beat the Rutland Rockies 15-13 in the final. VanHombeeck had been the last out of the sixth inning on a ground ball, and Braves coach Parker Kynoch said to him, “That’s all right Mike. You hit the ball on the ground with two out and the runner in scoring position. That’s all we can ask, that you hit a line drive or hit it on the ground. Just don’t pop up.” “I know, I know,” sighed VanHombeeck. VanHombeeck and the rest of the Braves headed out to the field trailing the Rockies 8-7. But then Rutland started scoring run after run after run until they had five in the inning. “It felt like the wheels were falling off. We were running out of pitching and it felt like we weren’t going to be deep enough in pitching to do it,” said Kynoch. “You just want to put a band-aid on to stop the bleeding.” So he sent Keno Magano, the Braves third pitcher of the inning who had thrown just one inning all season, to the mound. Magano miraculously managed to finally staunch the flow of hits. The Braves came off the field with their heads hanging. Their hopes of a provincial title appeared to have evaporated. Kynoch gathered them up and said, “I still believe in you guys, I truly do. “I believe this is a special group and I believe you can make it happen. The only way it’s going to get done is if you believe in yourself and you believe in each other.” The belief began when Burnaby got the leadoff guy on base. But then the next batter went out. The one after that, however, walked and Brendan Diu followed with a two-run double. It was 13-9. Magano and Sean Coulson then hit back-to-back home runs to make it 13-12. After Coulson’s home run, VanHombeeck went up to Coulson and kissed him on the neck, which drew derisive comments in jest from his teammates. Kynoch grabbed VanHombeeck by the shoulders and said, “That’s right Mike, you need to get some of that love, Buddy, because you’re going to do the same thing.” VanHombeeck just nodded and smiled. But the next batter became the second out and it looked bleak. D.J. Hunt, however, hit a seeing-eye ground ball that snuck into left field between shortstop and third base. Mike Spencer then drove in pinch runner Justin Gadey when he dumped a pitch off his hands over first base that was barely inside the right field line. All of a sudden, it was a tie ball game. VanHombeeck stepped to the plate and hammered a pitch to deep centre field. As soon as the ball left the bat, Kynoch shouted, “Get out!” It obeyed. He hugged VanHombeeck as he rounded third base en route to the celebratory dog pile at home plate. “He made up for [the sixth inning ground out] in the best way he possible could,” said Kynoch, who has never seen an ending to a game like it before. “That’s the kind of thing that only happens once in a lifetime. “There were forces at work that were beyond our control in a situation like that. You’ve got to thank the baseball gods. As much as our boys worked hard and deserved it, we definitely felt the magic.” Playing out of Kensington Park, the Braves finished fourth in league play with a 25-11 record behind the Vancouver Mounties (33-3), Victoria Vipers (26-10) and North Delta (26-10). Two of the Mounties’ losses came in the three games they played against each other. Burnaby’s only loss in seven games in the championship was 16-8 to the Mounties in the round robin. But in a tiebreaker the Braves prevailed 5-2 behind the pitching of Gadey, who threw a complete game hurling just 78 pitches in seven innings. They then went on to beat the Vipers 12-7 in the semifinal. “We didn’t feel like we were underdogs,” said Kynoch, who credited the team’s “outstanding” pitching for capturing the provincial title. “We knew that we could compete with any team there.” With the win the Braves advance to the Canadian championship to be held next week (Aug. 20-23) in Vaughan, Ont., just north of Toronto. The Braves get to pick up five players from other B.C. teams for the tournament. With all the travel and administrative arrangements he’s had to make the last few days, Kynoch hasn’t had much of a chance to start work on a new script. It will be hard to top the last one. ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com

 

 

 

 

 

Ballparks The Braves Have Won At

KENSINGTON (Burnaby)

Pitt Athletic #1 (Maple Ridge)

Cloverdale BallPark (Cloverdale)

Bird Field (Port Coquitlam)

Brighouse (Richmond)

Edith Gay #4 (Rutland)

Blundell (Richmond)

Parkgate (North Vancouver)

Springwood (Parksville)

Robins (Nanaimo)

Sherwood Heights Park (Sherwood Park, AB)

Hillcrest (Vancouver)

Pitt Athletic #5 (Maple Ridge)

Townline (Abbotsford)

Evergreen (Spooner Creek, WA)

Beckett Yard (Spooner Creek, WA)

Lambrick (Victoria)

Carnarvan (Victoria)

Edith Gay #3 (Rutland)

"Bury the D"

 

 

 

Final May Up The D Standings			Final June Up The D Standings			Final July Up The D Standings
Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â	Â
Fishsticks	23	Â	MewTube	11	Â	TKO	16	Â
Deej	20	Â	Kangaroo	11	Â	MiniPudge	14	Â
Kangaroo	17	Â	Seanold	10	Â	Deej	13	Â
Seanold	13	Â	MiniPudge	9	Â	Kangaroo	13	Â
Ro	12	Â	Spaceman	8	Â	Fishsticks	12	Â
GÂ	12	Â	Fishsticks	6	Â	Bear	10	Â
Spaceman	10	Â	Deej	6	Â	GÂ	10	Â
Bear	7	Â	Antelope	4	Â	MewTube	9	Â
Antelope	7	Â	GÂ	4	Â	K Mag	9	Â
TKO	6	Â	Bear	4	Â	Ro	7	Â
K Mag	6	Â	Ro	3	Â	Spaceman	7	Â
MewTube	6	Â	TKO	3	Â	Seanold	7	Â
MiniPudge	6	Â	K Mag	2	Â	Antelope	4	Â

    August Up The D Standings
Â	Â	Â
Kangaroo	14	Â
Deej	13	Â
TKO	12	Â
Seanold	7	Â
Antelope	7	Â
MiniPudge	6	Â
Spaceman	6	Â
Fishsticks	5	Â
Bear	5	Â
Ro	3	Â
GÂ	2	Â
K Mag	2	Â
MewTube	1	Â
Nate	0	Â
KD	0	Â
Robot Legs	0	Â
BTO	0	Â
monkeyarms	0	Â

 

 

 

Braves Management would like to remind everyone of a few things:

 

                Check the Prospects section for the latest up and comers in the BMBA

      Up-To-Date practice schedule will always be posted under Player Info

      Any documents from previous emails can be found in the Handouts section

      For all Braves game summaries see Press

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burnaby Braves Bantam AAA Baseball Club

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the new home of the Burnaby Braves Bantam AAA Baseball Club. We represent Burnaby Minor Baseball Association (BMBA) in the highly competitive Bantam AAA division under BC Minor. This is one of the best leagues in BC for baseball players under the age of 16. We play all our home games at Kensington Park located on Curtis Street in North Burnaby.

 

Our schedule is setup in a single season format with no All Star season and includes tournaments with games against teams in and outside of our league. The teams in our league include other Bantam AAA teams from the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Interior BC and Vancouver Island.  Teams play league games competing for a spot in the Provincial Championship tournament which this year will be held in Rutland at the beginning of August. The winner of this tournament goes on to represent BC at the Bantam AAA National Championships and the runner up represents BC at the Western Canadian Championships. Over the course of a season spanning from mid March to potentially mid August we will play approximately 55-70 games.

  

Although BMBA has been fielding Bantam teams for many years it is only most recently that it has taken such a sincere approach to helping young ball players develop both physically and mentally on and off the field. The Burnaby Braves Bantam AAA Baseball Club aims to help players reach their full potential and exceed expectations they have of themselves. The coaching staff’s main goal is to prepare ball players to reach a higher level of baseball including the BC Premier Baseball League (PBL), the Junior PBL and Midget AAA. We turn young baseball players into young men that play baseball. We try our best to do this by planning and implementing a year long program for players to follow which focuses on physical fitness, durability, team concepts, discipline, positivity, pride, class, individual skill development, strong academics and respect for the game of baseball including teammates, opponents, umpires, fans, family and mother nature.

  

Players are always reminded they are accountable for their own actions and hard work is a decision. We feel that the strength of our team atmosphere is built on responsibility and making good choices. Not everyone is blessed with exceptional skill but anyone can make the choice to hustle all the time, work hard and push themselves passed their comfort level in practice and training to be rewarded in games. 

 

  

 

 

 

BRAVES BLEED IN PRACTICE SO THEY CAN SWEAT IN GAMES

 

 

Thank-you for taking the time to review our site and we look forward to a fun and rewarding 2009 baseball season. For more information regarding the Burnaby Braves Bantam AAA Baseball Club please feel free to contact coaches Parker Kynoch hyephil@hotmail.com or Richard Forbes rfa3@sfu.ca.