The St. Andrews’ Smith brothers are making one last run at a Manitoba Junior Baseball League championship together.
Tyler Smith, 21, and Colson Smith, 18, have played baseball on several teams together over their baseball careers.
Last season, the Elmwood Giants advanced to the MJBL championship but lost to the St. Boniface Legionaires.
Now, the two are one series win away from winning a league championship together in Tyler’s final year of MJBL eligibility.
“If we could win it together it would be awesome,” said Tyler Smith. “We did it last year with nationals. It was a hell of a feeling but if we could do it again this year, especially in my last year, it would be awesome.”
To win, the Giants must defeat the Carillon Sultans in Game Five of the best-of-five championship series.
The Giants and Sultans have gone head-to-head all season as the league’s top two teams, the Sultans finishing first in the regular season and the Giants second.
The Giants took an early series lead in the finals, winning Game One 6-5 with Colson starting on the mound.
The Sultans won the following two games before the Giants avoided elimination Sunday, winning Game Four 4-1 to tie the series at two.
Now, with only one game left, Game Five is set to be one of the brothers’ biggest games of their careers.
“It’s going to come down from the top to bottom of the lineup swinging it well, each guy contributing, and obviously pitching’s going to be a big factor,” said Colson Smith. “Both teams pitch well and have good bats, so it’s going to come down to who wants to show up more on the bats and the arms, and good defence is a plus.”
Game Five of the series went Monday night at A.D. Penner Park. The score was not available due to our press schedule.
