It’s playoff time for the Okanagan College Coyotes as they’re looking for the second consecutive Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) championship title.
The CCBC playoffs begin on Thursday, May 18 in Lethbridge with the Coyotes playing in the opening game of the tournament.
Going into the playoffs, the Coyotes are the number two seed, after finishing the regular season with a record of 20-12. They finished one game behind the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs (21-11).
The eight-team playoffs is a double elimination-style tournament, meaning teams are out after they lose twice. Okanagan College opens the tournament against the University of Fraser Valley Cascades, who finished 13-19 this season. The Coyotes went 4-2 against the Cascades this season, outscoring them 35-26.
The Coyotes will be relying on catcher Caleb Lumbard, who led the league in RBIs (25) this season, as well as finishing fifth in batting average (.339).
Pitching was a strong suit for the Coyotes this season. Pitchers Corey Lawson (2.22) and Sean Dunn (2.25) finished fourth and fifth in the league in ERA respectively. Meanwhile Gavin Wuschke led the league with 62 strikeouts. Wuschke and Lawson also each finished with five wins on the season.
Defence is a big part of the Coyotes game as well - they led the league with a team fielding percentage of .961, making just 39 errors on 1012 fielding chances this season.
First pitch for the Coyotes and Cascades is at 12 p.m. Pacific time at Spitz Stadium in Lethbridge.
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