Crucial weekend for Wolfpack baseball early in the year

Apr 7, 2017 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s early in the season, but the TRU Wolfpack baseball team faces a critical weekend, a home-and-home series against the Okanagan College Coyotes. 

Both teams come into the four-game series after rocky outings last weekend. The Wolfpack opened their season with a win, but lost three straight to the defending-champion Prairie Baseball Academy to drop to 1-3. The Coyotes were swept on Vancouver Island. 

But TRU is confident in its depth this year. 

“I can put two different teams out on any day and they can compete pretty well, as they’ve shown since September and through the slow spring that we’ve had,” said Wolfpack manager Ray Chadwick. 

The Wolfpack are welcoming 21 new players this year. The biggest depth is on the mound, led by second-year Tyler Hodder, who finished last season 7-0 with a 1.77 ERA. 

“From what I hear, I’m the No. 1 guy,” said Hodder. “But I believe there’s no ace on this team. All four of us starters are just as good. Great competitors.”

There’s one new team in the Canadian College Baseball Conference, the University of the Fraser Valley. But it’s still PBA’s league and they’re once again the team to beat, with Okanagan College, who lost to the Dawgs in the CCBC championship game last year, a close second.