He was happy they responded in a positive manner.
The Corner Brook Barons, with Mitchell as head coach for the first time, won the provincial senior B baseball crown with a 3-2 win over Stafford’s Welding Gander Pilots Sunday afternoon at Jubilee Field.
The two teams finished tied at 3-1 after double round-robin play in the three-team affair after the Barons lost the opener to the Pilots 7-4 and rebounded the following day to get some revenge with an 11-6 over the central squad.
Starting off the tournament with a 7-4 loss to the Pilots wasn’t exactly what Mitchell envisioned heading into the weekend, but he figured there was some nerves among the group so things didn’t go as planned.
The Barons have always won the first few games of the B tournament to build confidence, he said, but this wasn’t the case so maybe it was a wake-up call of sorts.
“I think it was the best thing to happen to us,” Mitchell said.
The Barons will tangle with the St. John’s Capitals in a best-of-seven final series that will get underway in two weeks with the first three games being played in Corner Brook.
It’s no secret that the Barons love to beat the Caps and vice-versa so Mitchell believes it will be another entertaining series and believes his team will be up for the challenge.
“We got a good team chemistry going for sure,” he said.
The Barons are allowed to add four players to the group to strengthen the roster for the showdown with the Capitals so Mitchell thinks his team will look pretty good in all areas of the game once the Caps come to Jubilee Field.
He confirmed that the Barons have added A. J. Whiffen and Dave Parsons of the Pilots for the series against the Capitals. He has also talked to Kevin Miller of the Pilots, who was the top hitter at the B with an impressive .600 average, but never got a full commitment yet because Miller lives in Ontario so there would be some logistics that would have to be considered if he is going to join the team. It’s up in the air on who the fourth player will be but Mitchell will be focused on adding somebody he believes can help the team upend the defending champions.