STELLARTON – A couple of Pictou County baseball veterans are turning back the clock this coming weekend.
Trevor Whynott and Guy Pellerine, who played for the Pictou County Albions Intermediate baseball team for several years, will be part of the Nova Scotia Mariners, who will compete at the Canadian Over-35 men’s baseball championship in Charlottetown, to feature 14 teams.
“We have a group of individuals from across the province who have played high-calibre baseball,” said Pellerine, who will coach and play some first base.
“A lot of seniors and a lot of former senior all-star players.”
Pellerine played in the 2015 national tournament with the Nova Scotia Alpines, and lost in the semifinals. That tournament was held in Yarmouth, who won it that year.
“I missed the game, and this is an opportunity to get a group of guys together. It’s a great opportunity to be able to take the field with this team,” said Pellerine, who was a power-hitting shortstop with the Albions, as well as the Truro Bearcats Senior men’s team, with whom he spent seven seasons in the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League.
Nova Scotia will play in three round-robin this weekend in Charlottetown, after which the tournament will have a re-seeding.
Whynott, who played for the Albions for 18 years, is a left-handed pitcher who can play first base. Like Pellerine, he also missed playing baseball: the Albion took a one-year hiatus this season from the Nova Scotia Intermediate Baseball League.
“This is the first year I haven’t played ball since I was five. I miss playing, hanging out with the guys and being in something competitive,” said Whynott, who when he’s dealing from the mound will rely mainly on off-speed stuff and the ability to throw strikes.
Both players might be a bit rusty after having not played organized baseball this year, but they planned on knocking off some of that rust in the days leading up to the national tournament.
“We’re going to get out and take some swings and throw the ball around. I think eventually, it’ll come back,” said Whynott, who added that Team Nova Scotia won’t merely be satisfied with showing up – they’re going in with sights set on winning the whole thing.
“The guys on the team are high-calibre baseball players and they’ll come to win.”
