Prince Albert Royals surprise coach with early season play

The Prince Albert Royals are three games into their 2017 season, and after a come-from-behind win in Nipawin earlier in the week the team has its first winning record.

The Royals opened their season with a 14-1 loss to Nipawin at Andy Zwack Field. Head coach Lance Alexander attributed the loss to opening night nerves. The Royals bounced back in their second game of the season with a 10-3 win in Melfort to even their record 1-1.

On Monday night the team was trailing Nipawin 8-7 at the top of the sixth inning and rallied with a seven-run inning to capture the 14-8 win.

This is Alexander’s first year with the midget team after coaching at the bantam level last year. Alexander, who is also the president of Prince Albert Minor Baseball, said he’s coached most of the players “since they were little.” The 2017 edition of the Royals features five returning midget players, five bantam graduates and two players who are completely new to the game.

“We’re a pretty young team. We’ve got a lot of first year midget players (and) we have some first time ball players on our team. First time ever. When we played out first game it was their first at-bat,” Alexander said.

“They’re a good bunch of kids. They know each other, they love the game and that’s why they’re here. Baseball, for most of them, is their main sport. (For) some of them it’s still hockey and some play other sports and track and things like that, but for the most part … their main sport is baseball.”

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