The Western Major Baseball League
Regina Red Sox dumped Medicine Hat 7-3 Wednesday (August 15) to win their second consecutive WMBL title. Sox took the best-of-five final series in four games. Randy Ramirez led the offense with a two-run homer and Chris Untereiner had a solo shot. Ryne Drummonds went seven innings for the win. Regina, under first-year head coach Justin Eiswirth had the best record during the regular season finishing with a mark of 34-12.
The MVP award was shared in 2012 as selectors choose both Ridge Gonsoulin (Lethbridge Bulls) (far left) and Aaron Dunsmore (Swift Current Indians) (left).
Gonsoulin, from Louisiana State University in Shreveport, had a record-setting 25-game hitting streak. Dunsmore, a Canadian from Spruce Grove, Alberta, was a leading hitter for the University of Dayton, Ohio and finished the WCBL season with a .403 average while belting 9 homers and driving in 42 runs.
Josh Young of Regina (above right) won the batting crown with a .416 mark, edging Gonsoulin, who registered a .413 average.
Daniel Jones (right) of the Regina Red Sox was named the top pitcher after a sensational season in which he set a record for wins (9) and also topped the circuit in ERA (1.34) and strikeouts (70).
Jones, a right-hander from Daytona Beach, Florida, came to the Sox from Brewton-Parker College in Georgia. where he was an All-Star hurler.
In the spring of 2012, Jones went 7-4, 2.35 on the hill for the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) squad while compiling a .316 batting average in 48 games as a hitter.
2012 Final Standings : |
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| East | W |
L |
GB |
Central | W |
L |
GB |
West | W |
L |
GB |
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| Regina | 34 |
12 |
Swift Current | 28 |
18 |
Medicine Hat | 31 |
15 |
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| Melville | 24 |
22 |
10.0 |
Moose Jaw | 21 |
25 |
7.0 |
Lethbridge | 27 |
18 |
3.5 |
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| Weyburn | 19 |
25 |
14.0 |
Saskatoon | 20 |
26 |
8.0 |
Okotoks | 26 |
19 |
4.5 |
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| Yorkton | 14 |
32 |
20.0 |
Edmonton | 6 |
38 |
24.0 |
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2011
Regina Red Sox captured their first WMBL title in 2011 downing the Okotoks Dawgs three games to one in the final series. During the regular season Regina, the Eastern Division champs, had the best winning percentage with a 32-10 won-lost record. Okotoks, the Western Division champs, and Medicine Hat, the Western runners-up, tied for the most wins, each with 34. The teams in each division finished in the same order as in 2010.
Jesse Sawyer (left) of the Lethbridge Bulls was selected as the league's Most Valuable Player. Sawyer led the loop with 18 home runs and 50 RBI. The homers set a single-season record for the WMBL.
The Calgary native, who attended South Dakota State University, finished with a .351 batting average and scored 38 runs. For a slugger, Sawyer showed outstanding plate discipline with 37 walks and 39 strike outs. He compiled a .500 on base percentage and .773 slugging percentage. In the playoffs, he hit .400.
Bryan Abrey (above right), of the Medicine Hat Mavericks, captured the batting crown finishing with a .423 average.
Abrey, from Vancouver and attending Lewis-Clark College, had been selected as the 2010 Outstanding Canadian in the league.
Reliever Chad Jones (right) of Swift Current Indians was named Top Pitcher. The right-hander compiled a 6-2 record with an ERA of 1.06 in 22 games.
2011 Final Standings : |
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| East | W |
L |
GB |
Central | W |
L |
GB |
West | W |
L |
GB |
|||
| Regina | 32 |
10 |
Swift Current | 26 |
16 |
Okotoks | 34 |
12 |
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| Melville | 20 |
22 |
12.0 |
Moose Jaw | 17 |
24 |
8.5 |
Medicine Hat | 34 |
16 |
2.0 |
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| Weyburn | 16 |
25 |
15.5 |
Saskatoon | 14 |
28 |
12.0 |
Lethbridge | 23 |
25 |
12.0 |
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| Yorkton | 14 |
26 |
17.0 |
Edmonton | 10 |
36 |
24.0 |
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2010
The Swift Current Indians are the new champions of the WMBL! Swift Current captured the 2010 title August 14th with a 7-2 win over Regina, sweeping the best-of-three series. They won the opener 7-1. Rain forced the league to switch from a best-of-five final to a best-of-three series.
During the regular season, the defending champion Okotoks Dawgs again had the best record, with 31 victories.
Regina first sacker Mitch MacDonald (left) won the Triple Crown leading the league in batting average, .476, home runs, 8, and runs batted in, 48. McDonald, a Regina product, was also named the league's Most Valuable Player. The first baseman had experience in the Florida Marlins system after signing with the club after a record-breaking, all-star, college season at Monterey Peninsula College in California in 2007.
Adam Reynolds (right) of Lethbridge was named the top pitcher in leading the league in wins (7) and ERA (1.26).
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2009
The Okotoks Dawgs finished with the best overall record in the regular 2009 season and went on to capture their third straight WMBL championship.
Okotoks and Melville Millionaires had each won a game in the best-of-five final when rain and the need for players to return to their colleges wiped out the rest of the series. The league declared the two clubs as co-champions. But, Melville was later found to have used an ineligible players and Melville was disqualified.
Nik Gumeson (left) of Swift Current was selected as the leagues Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year. Gumeson, from Utah University, batted .312 and led the league in slugging percentage (.675), triples (5) and tied for the lead with 11 home runs. He had 42 runs batted in and slammed 14 doubles.
James Green (above right) of Melville captured the batting title with a .423 average. Coty Saranthus (above middle) side-arming reliever of Melville was named top pitcher in compiling an spectacular, league record, earned run average of 0.41 to go along with a 5-1 won-lost mark. (in 2010 Saranthus was named Pitcher of the Year in the Coastal Plains League of the Southeast USA as he went 7-0, 0.68.)
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