The North Shore Twins won their second straight B.C. Premier League baseball championship Aug. 17 in Nanaimo, and Gibsons' Mitch Rainer played a huge role in the victory.
In the best-of-three first round of the provincial playoffs, North Shore lost 6-3 to the Abbotsford Cardinals and were down 5-1 in game two, but rallied back for a 6-5 win and a 8-1 win in game three to just advance to the final four provincial finals in Nanaimo.
In the round robin portion of the finals, which also featured the Coquitlam Reds, Blaze and Nanaimo Pirates, the Twins lost their opener 3-2 to Coquitlam, meaning North Shore had to run the table to win the title.
With their backs to the wall, Rainer asked coach John Haar for the ball in game two against Langley.
"Mitch was emphatic that he wanted the ball, and I was just tickled to death that he wanted to pitch," said Haar. "He was outstanding in that game. He pitched a one hitter and Langley couldn't touch him."
"I love beating Langley. They beat us in the final game of the season and I didn't want that to happen again," Rainer said. "Langley is a bit cocky, so it was nice to pitch a great game and help the team win."
The Twins won the game 3-1 then followed up with a 9-1 thrashing of the Pirates to earn the berth in the championship game. Rainer also came up big in the game against Nanaimo - this time with his bat, as he smoked a home run and added a triple.
In the final, the Twins beat Langley 6-3 to claim their second title in as many years.
"It was pretty exciting - much different than last year," Rainer said. "Anyone could win - it was an evenly matched tournament. When we needed a big pitch, a big hit, a big play, it came. Last year we were on such a big roll. Every game we got a lead in, we knew we were going to win. This year, it really was up and down, so in a lot of ways it was more satisfying knowing we were in a do-or-die situation after losing that first game to Coquitlam."
The Twins finished the regular season in third place with a 29-19 record, which was a good showing for the injury-plagued team.
One of those injuries included Gibsons' KP Hlatky who missed the final two months with an ankle injury.
"KP tried to come back, but he just couldn't play, so unfortunately he didn't get a lot of time in," Haar said. "It's too bad, because he could have been a valuable player for us. He's quite the spark plug player. I appreciated the fact that he came to Nanaimo. Hopefully he'll get healthy and we can use him in 2009."
Hlatky finished the season hitting just around .300 in limited playing time.
Rainer finished with just under 74 innings pitched with 39 strikeouts, 18 walks and a record of 8-4 with a very respectable 3.33 ERA. He was 20th in the league in ERA and third in the league in wins.
"Mitch was a huge player for us, especially in the stretch drive to finish the season and throughout the playoffs," Haar said. "We were pretty young in a lot of ways this year, and we certainly looked to guys like Mitch to be real leaders this year, and we got that. Mitch was outstanding all season long."Rainer will be back with the Twins for his final season of eligibility in September.
"I said to Mitch's dad that I'd take him for the next 10 years, but we'll settle for one more season," said Haar. "I think it's a good move for him. He can get one more season of maturity and playing time and be in a much better position and more prepared for the next year when he moves on to college."
Rainer said his preference would be to play for a U.S. college, but if he were to stay in Canada, he would opt for the University of British Columbia.
"UBC is a bigger, better program, and with them set to join the NCAA, it could open a lot of doors," he said. "It's super cool to win for John. To win back-to-back titles with the Twins is awesome. John is a hall-of-famer and being able to give him two championships is pretty special. It's a tough thing to do in this league to win two titles, let alone two in a row, so we're a part of history."
