The Sarnia Senior Braves have been red hot so far this season, and there's no indication they'll slow down anytime soon.
The club is a perfect 17-0 this year, including 13-0 in Southwestern Baseball League play. In their league games, they've outscored opponents 141-30, including three shutout victories.
It's been a balanced attack for the Braves, with their top five batters hitting over .440. Justin Randall leads the way with 26 hits, Alex McLean has a team-best 25 RBIs, while Julian Service and Mike Damchuk lead the home run parade with four each.
Damchuk says the players have a strong relationship on and off the field.
"If you have a core group, you have more fun," says Damchuk. "You see teams going out there, and one through nine they're just patched together with guys from separate towns and such. But, the core group that we have now, we've all been together for five years and it's a lot of fun. We're strong one through nine but we also have a core group behind those guys. We have a guy like Charlie Stubbs that can come in at any time and just pick up the slack. It's good to have depth, and we've never had that in the past."
Outfielder James Grant says the guys can't get too cocky despite the team's success.
"You kind of want to keep playing like we did at the start of the year," says Grant. "I know going into the year we weren't quite sure what our expectations would be. Strathroy has such a good team and in the past we've had trouble with them. We were focusing on getting over the hump and beating them a couple of times, which we did. Once that happened, it's about staying focused and realizing there's a lot more baseball to play."
Pitcher Anthony Shepherd has been on fire, posting a 5-0 record, along with a sparkling 1.29 ERA, and a team-high 38 strikeouts. Paul Sheeler, Nick Baljeu, Wade Babula, and Mike Damchuk all have perfect records and ERA's under four.
The Braves will head north for the Kincardine Charity Classic on Sunday before hosting Exeter Wednesday night at Errol Russell Park.
