The Hub City Paving Mid-Island Pirates begin the 2018 B.C. Premier Baseball League season this weekend, April 14-15. (NEWS BULLETIN file)

The Hub City Paving Mid-Island Pirates begin the 2018 B.C. Premier Baseball League season this weekend, April 14-15. (NEWS BULLETIN file)

Pirates step up to the plate for new premier-league season

Hub City Paving Pirates on the road Saturday, at home Sunday

Pirates baseball is back for another season.

The Hub City Paving Mid-Island Pirates begin the 2018 B.C. Premier Baseball League season this Saturday, April 14, with a doubleheader on the road against the Parksville Royals, then play their home-opener doubleheader Sunday against the Victoria Eagles.

Manager Doug Rogers said he’s happy with the progress of his team so far this spring.

“We’re trying to get the young guys moving up to learn how we do things within the program and get them on page as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s a big transition coming from junior to senior.”

He said the Pirates have a lot of the attributes they need to be successful, with players who are fast and athletic, batters who can hit for average and pitchers who can log a lot of innings.

“It’s going to be a fun team to watch because they’re all young and enthusiastic,” Rogers said.

Taking on Parksville will be a challenging way to begin the BCPBL schedule; the Royals are 2-0 and won both their games by blowout scores on opening weekend.

“With the Parksville rivalry, and a lot of these players are Nanaimo kids, all the kids know each other so the kids are going to be motivated, it’s just a matter of a game plan,” Rogers said. “It’ll be fun to start off things and we’ll see how it goes.”

GAME ON … Saturday’s games at Parksville’s Springwood Park are at noon and 2:30 p.m. Sunday’s game times at Nanaimo’s Serauxmen Stadium are 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Admission is free to all Pirates games this season.


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Nanaimo News Bulletin