The Saint John Junior Alpines are heading to Dartmouth this week to compete in the National U22 Baseball Tournament.
They’ll represent our province after winning the New Brunswick Junior Baseball League championship in 2023 against the Chatham Ironmen.
Chatham won the first two games and was on track to sweep the best-of-five series in three games, but the Alpines came out victorious in games three and four, forcing a fifth and deciding game.
With coach David Pender and assistant coaches Mathew Mitchell and Jason McCarthy, the Junior Alpines finished the regular season with a 14-7 record and were in first place all season.
The Junior Alpines have also added four new players to strengthen the roster, including two NCAA Division 1 players: Max Grant of the University of Alabama and Matthew Donnison of Illinois State University.
Team President Terre Hunter said he’s been to the national championship with the senior squad four times since 2018, but this is the first time he and some junior players have been to the nationals.
“It starts on Thursday and, assuming there are no weather issues, it’s over on Sunday, so it’s a really short and sharp type of thing, and you really have to live in the moment and enjoy why it’s there,” said Hunter.
“We have a very good level of baseball in New Brunswick. We’re a small province, but continuously, at almost every age level, we have a good representation.”
Wednesday saw the beginning of the festivities with a thrilling home run contest. Matt Beach was the representative for New Brunswick.
The tournament begins Thursday morning, with Saint John facing Newfoundland and Labrador at 9 a.m., followed by Nova Scotia at 3 p.m. Teams from Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba will also battle it out in the round-robin tournament.
Elimination and medal games are scheduled for later into the weekend, with the gold medal game slated for 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
The full schedule and results can be found by clicking here.
