TORONTO- The JNT held their final team practice before the exhibition portion of their schedule gets underway on Thursday. Away from the vicious Toronto heat and inside the comfy confines of the climate controlled Rogers Centre the team looked poised and ready for the challenges that lie ahead.
According to JNT coach, Dan Thompson (Burlington, ON) the club is heading in the right direction.
“I think we’re right on track. The first day in St. Marys was a great bonding experience, but the last couple of days have been all business, the guys are very focussed in preparing for the tour ahead.
When asked what the expectations of the team are in the exhibition games, Thompson explained the importance of playing fundamental baseball and playing well defensively.
“We want to work on refining our game and do all the little things right, like hitting the cut off man and on the inner diamond playing sound fundamentally.”
The tour begins on Thursday as the JNT will fly to Boston and quickly jump on a bus for a game in Laconia, NH. Providing the opposition on the first leg of the tour will be teams from the New England Collegiate Baseball League which are primarily made up of Division 1 college players. The opposition and the environment in which the games will be played are something the JNT is looking forward to.
“I think we’re definitely going to go out and compete,” said JNT member Brandon Dailey (Brantford, ON). “We’re not going to get pushed over. We’re looking forward to it.”
Something the JNT has going in its favour is the fact that most of the members of the team have had the opportunity to compete with each other at past JNT events. It is this key factor that should benefit the team as the games on the schedule become more meaningful.
“We already know each other personally,” explained Dailey. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses pretty good right now.”
After the game in Laconia the JNT will play 5 games in 6 days before heading to Minnesota to compete in another set of exhibition games. All of the exhibition games lead to the World Junior Baseball Championships beginning on July 23rd in Thunder Bay.
