Lethbridge Academy takes the field

By Dale Woodard on September 7, 2021.

The Lethbridge High School Baseball Academy has stepped up to the plate.

A little under two months after its official unveiling, the Academy took the field for the first time at the Keith Jorgensen Memorial Tournament Thursday through Sunday at Spitz Stadium and Lloyd Nolan Yard.

The Academy, consisting of players in Grades 9 to 12 working on their baseball skills to take them to the next level, went 1-5 over the three-day tournament, but head coach Chance Wheatley said it was simply nice to get the program up and running.

“This is something that, I think, has really been missing in the city in the last number of years. To have this group of guys here is a great start. We’re a really young group, which is good. There are going to be some growing pains, but we’ll fight through it.”

The likes of Cooper Oriold-Climenhaga and Ben Puszkar will get the chance to further develop their skills this fall as part of the new academy, but the duo also have a few role models within their own family to look up to.

For Oriold-Climenhaga, that’s Lethbridge Bulls pitcher and Western Canadian Baseball League playoff MVP Bryce Oriold-Fraser, who helped the Bulls to the WCBL title last month.

Puszkar, meanwhile, can look to older brother Lucas, who suits up with the Prairie Baseball Academy as well as his father, Denny, a staple in the local baseball scene.

“I get so much advice from Lucas and my dad,” said Puszkar, whose dad played at the Prairie Baseball Academy from 1996-1998 and for the Bulls in 1999 and 2000. “My dad played for the PBA and Lucas is coming up now and also playing at the PBA. They can help me get ready to go.”

Ditto for Oriold-Climenhaga, 16, whose older brother is coming off a pretty memorable summer.

“He helps me with my pitching a lot. He keeps giving me advice to improve my pitching and it’s nice to have that,” said Oriold-Climenhaga. “I’ve been hoping to go to college like my older brother. It’s been a dream of mine to follow in his footsteps and to be able to play at the level he’s playing at.”

The Lethbridge High School Baseball Academy heads into a busy September with games scheduled every weekend.

“It’s really important because I’ve been wanting to work on my skills and Chance is a guy who can help me improve,” said Oriold-Climenhaga. “These guys can also help me to improve a little bit because they can catch onto some stuff I might be doing wrong.”

Puszkar, a 15-year-old catcher and centre fielder who eventually hopes to play college in the U.S. and study business, also welcomed the chance to step it up with the new Academy.

“It’s huge,” he said. “I see how I rank up against other guys my age and guys older than me and get experience playing on full-size diamonds and the big diamonds. I played at Atso Field and it’s still a great diamond, but nothing like playing at Spitz or Lloyd Nolan Yard.”

The Lethbridge High School Baseball Academy’s roster consists of a few Grade 9 and Grade 12 players, but mostly Grade 10 and 11 athletes, said Wheatley

“I think they enjoyed it,” said the coach of the past weekend. “Results aside, it was good. For a number of kids, this is a pretty big step up and I think it was really good for them to experience it.

“We’re really young, so we have time to grow. But once they start to grow and mature a bit I think we’re going to be alright.”

The Lethbridge High School Baseball Academy will practise four days a week in addition to a full slate of games each weekend this month.

“We’ll be playing every weekend and practising,” said Wheatley, whose team will head to Calgary Saturday. “We’ll be going six days a week.”

The Keith Jorgensen Memorial Tournament featured four divisions with games also taking place in Vauxhall.

The Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Jets went 4-0 on the weekend, wrapping up the tournament Sunday with a 14-0 win over Neutral Hills Academy.

The PBA also put a team in last weekend’s tournament.

The fifth annual Keith Jorgensen Memorial Golf Tournament will be held at the Paradise Canyon Golf Resort Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Follow @@DWoodardHerald on Twitter