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M.L. and N.B. senior baseball MVPs reflect on season

Jul 15, 2016 | 12:18 PM

Two local team players were recognized when the Most Valuable Player awards were handed out among the northwest senior baseball teams.

Kevin Gerwing was named the team MVP of the Meadow Lake Sox, while Kyle Palmer received the same accolade for the the North Battleford Beavers during the 2016 North Saskatchewan River Baseball League season.

Gerwing played outfield, third base, first base and pitcher. He had a batting average of .375, an on base percentage of .462 and a slugging percentage of .630 in 15 games, adding two home runs and 13 RBI’s.

He felt his versatility was a big help for the Sox, being used as a utility fielder some nights.

“If somebody wasn’t around I could go play that spot. I played a lot of third base this year, I haven’t played that much of that before. I filled in first base when we needed and outfield whenever we had our outfielders missing. I was able to just do what the team needed,” Gerwing said.

Gerwing and the Sox finished the season as the third seed and are facing the sixth-seeded Macklin Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

The Sox beat Macklin 8-3 in the lone meeting of the season between the two teams and Gerwing said his team feels confident going up against the Lakers.

“It was the back end of a long day double header for us, so we were able to play them strong,” Gerwing said. “We have a good feel for what they have and we expect them to bring everything they have.”

The first of the three games series between the Sox and the Lakers is Friday, July 15 at 6:30 p.m. in Meadow Lake with game two Sunday, July 17 in Macklin. If necessary, the deciding game three will be played in Meadow Lake on Tuesday, July 19.

Meanwhile down Highway 4 in North Battleford, Palmer played centre field, first base and pitcher for the Beavers. He had a batting average of .488, an on base percentage of .511 and a slugging percentage of .884 in 13 games with 2 home runs and 19 RBI’s. Palmer’s batting average was good for second in the league.

Palmer said it’s a good honour to be recognized by his team and his MVP award reinforces his team player mentality.

“I just tried to do whatever the team asked. If we needed runs, I tried to do the best I could to drive in runs or play defence, pitching.” said Palmer. “Anything they asked I tried to help out as much as I could.”

The Beavers enter the playoffs in the eighth and final seed with a 7-9 record and are taking on the first-seeded Lloydminster Twins who finished the season 13-3.

In the lone meeting between the two teams in the regular season, the Twins won by a score of 11-3.

Palmer said the Beavers record is deceiving and he felt they didn’t play to their full potential during parts of the season.

“I think towards the end of the year we started to figure things out. Even though we’re the underdogs, I still feel confident we can win the series,” Palmer said.

Game one of the three games series between the Beavers and the Twins is Monday, July 18 at 6:30 p.m. in Lloydminster with game two Sunday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m. in North Battleford. Game three will be played back in Lloydminster on Tuesday, July 19 if needed.

 

Matt Kelly is battlefordsNOW’s town municipal affairs and community reporter. He can be reached at mkelly@jpbg.ca. Concerns regarding this story can be addressed to News Director Geoff Smith at 306-446-6397.