THUNDER BAY – Seventeen days away from home doesn’t have to be a bad thing, say a pair of Border Cats faced with the prospects of a lengthy road trip to start the 2017 Northwoods League season.
It’s a great chance to bond, said shortstop Colin Rosenbaum, a junior at North Carolina’s Belmont Abbey College, not worried about the team’s Port Arthur Stadium woes, with renovations to the aging park not finished on time, forcing them to the road for two weeks longer than originally scheduled.
“I think it’s pretty cool, honestly,” said the power-hitting Rosenbaum, who had nine home runs and 50 RBI, while hitting .286 with a .447 on base percentage for the Crusaders.
“I’ve never had a 17-game road trip ever. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be definitely a lot different, so you’re going to have to be mentally strong and just take each game one game at a time.
College teammate Brady Hill, a southpaw reliever looking to help the Border Cats bullpen close out contests in their 15th season, said the road trip will teach the team a lot about themselves and should be a great bonding experience for a group of players who for the most part had never met before joining the Border Cats.
“They say separate the men from the boys and I think this 17-day road trip will definitely do that. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think it will be a great opportunity for us to bond on the road and become a better team as we go through this,” said Hill, who posted a 2-1 record for the Crusaders with a 6.53 earned run average and five saves in 15 appearances.
“Hopefully we pick up some wins.”
It certainly can’t be any worse than the start the Border Cats got off to last year, setting a new mark for futility with 15 straight losses to open the 2016 season.
New pitching coach Matt Cartwright sees positives and negatives to their banishment to the road for the first half of June.
On the one hand, the players will get to know each other really well. On the other, they may start to get on each other’s nerves a bit spending so much time together.
“But that will help us really gel together and grind together, the first two weeks when you’re on the road together. We’re just going to be on the bus and in the hotel together and on the field together. That’s it,” said Cartwright.
It could set the tone for the rest of the summer, he added.
“Baseball is a game of momentum. It truly is. We want to get off to a hot start to really propel us for the rest of the season because it’s 74 games. Every game matters, even the ones early,” Cartwright said.
General manager Dan Grant, worried the road trip might cause some college coaches to rethink their decision to send players to Thunder Bay, said all but a handful players should meet the team in time to start the season and those that don’t are only delayed because their schools are still playing in NCAA regionals.
The Cats open the season on Tuesday in Willmar. The revamped home-opener goes June 17 against Eau Claire.
