There will be a definite hole in the Red Deer Riggers roster this season.
For the first time in their 30-year history Dwayne Lalor won’t be on the every-day roster.
The veteran infielder announced following last season his playing days with the Sunburst Baseball League squad were over.
“Dwayne will be missed, but he’s staying on as team president,” said Riggers playing manager Curtis Bailey, who has a solid nucleus of veterans off last year’s provincial championship squad.
“We’re looking forward to this season as we have our core group back and I believe we’ll only build on what we did last year,” added Bailey, who has 16 veterans on the roster.
Besides Lalor, Chad Northcott, Tyler Dunsmore and Darren Sopkow won’t be returning.
Northcott has decided to play in Medicine Hat and Dunsmore is in Edmonton. Sopkow has a bad shoulder.
The Riggers don’t have a lot of holes to fill, although they don’t have a full time catcher.
“In fact we haven’t had a regular catcher since Paul Claerhout retired,” said Bailey.
“But some of the guys have been working on catching and we’ll be fine.”
Kerry Boon, who is also a second baseman, did a lot of the catching late last season, but Jaret Chatwood has been working behind the plate while at Montana State University in Billings and Mike Ronnie has indicated he’ll catch as well.
Chatwood and Wik can both play the infield and outfield.
Aaron Graves, Bailey, Jordan Weinkauf, Denver Wik and Shayne Court all return to the outfield while Matt Fay is expected to be at first base, Jason Chatwood at shortstop and Delton Kruk at third base.
Brent Lazzarotto and James Dykstra will anchor the pitching staff, which will also include, Joel Peterman, Colin Hodgson, Mac Girodat and Wik.
Bailey expects Red Deer midget Braves grad Matt Davis, who will give the team another left-handed starter along with Dykstra, to join the team.
Outfielder Alex Fay is the other newcomer.
“We’ve only had one practice, so there could be a few more guys interested in coming out . . . we’ll see in the next few days,” said Bailey.
The Riggers will attend the Canadian championships, Aug. 26-29, in Dartmouth, N.S.
“It’s the first time since 2003 that we’ve qualified so we’re looking forward to it,” said Bailey.
“I like our roster. We’ll likely add a couple of pitchers, but don’t need much else.”
The Riggers opened their schedule Tuesday when they host the Calgary Redbirds at 7:30 p.m. at Great Chief Park.
They meet the Red Deer Stags May 20 at 7:30 p.m. in a game that was rescheduled from Thursday.
“I know we’re missing a lot of our players and I don’t think the Stags weren’t ready yet either,” said Bailey, who expects a number of his college players back next week.
Boon, Wik, Peterman and Court are all at Minot State University in North Dakota with Jason Chatwood at Gonzaga in Spokane and Jaret Chatwood at MSU.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com