{"id":2497,"date":"2008-05-30T08:22:43","date_gmt":"2008-05-30T16:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=2497"},"modified":"2008-05-30T08:28:34","modified_gmt":"2008-05-30T16:28:34","slug":"explorers-have-new-faces-as-season-opens-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/?p=2497","title":{"rendered":"Midland Explorers Open Season Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission from:<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n(click logo to visit official website of midland.com)<\/em><\/p>\n

Explorers have new faces as season opens Friday
\nBy Cash Kruth<\/em><\/strong>
\nPublished: Thursday, May 29, 2008 11:48 AM EDT<\/em><\/p>\n

As the Midland Explorers prepare to open their season this weekend in Kitchener, Ont., manager Clint Beane is excited for the season to get under way — and for good reason.<\/p>\n

With a mix of returning veterans and key newcomers, Beane thinks his squad has a good chance to improve on last season’s 30-13 record. Beane also believes the Explorers can better their fifth- and 14th-place finishes, respectively, at the ASA Major National Tournament and the International Softball Congress World Tournament.<\/p>\n

“We have a lot of new players and I’m pretty excited about (the season),” Beane said. “We’ve had a couple guys retire from playing and one move on, but I picked up another pitcher and a couple outfielders.”<\/p>\n

The newcomers include utilitymen Chad Ferguson and Calvin Miller, outfielders Dan Skillings and Brad Ezekiel and pitcher Brian Urquhart.<\/p>\n

*
\n Urquhart will join veteran Grant Patterson, who earned ASA First team All-American honors in 2007, in the circle for the Explorers.<\/p>\n

Urquhart, Patterson and second-year Explorer Mike Joseph will look to work together to fill the void left by Doug Gillis, who will suit up for Aurora (Ill.) in 2008.<\/p>\n

Gillis, who was both an ASA All-American and an ISC All-World performer during his time with the Explorers, had been an Explorer since 1998.<\/p>\n

“It’ll be a big loss for us,” Beane said of Gillis’ departure. “Doug was a good pitcher for a lot of years and he decided some different scenery might be better for him.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to miss him, but we wish him the best of luck and we really appreciate everything he did for us throughout the years.”<\/p>\n

Another key loss for the Explorers was the retirement of centerfielder Dave Frick, whom Beane called “one of the best I’ve ever seen in the game.”<\/p>\n

Despite the departure of Frick, Beane thinks the addition of Skillings will make the outfield more potent on offense.<\/p>\n

While the Explorers lost Gillis’ arm and Frick in the outfield, one area that doesn’t concern Beane is the infield, which returns all its starters from a year ago.<\/p>\n

Second Team All-American catcher Craig Crawford returns behind the plate, while Kyle Beane, who earned Second Team All-World honors at the ISC World Tournament, returns at first.<\/p>\n

Third baseman Eddy Ketelhut returns to the hot corner, while the double-play combination of second baseman Steve Horning and shortstop Todd Schultz is also back.<\/p>\n

Clint Beane is also excited about the three home weekends the Explorers have at Currie Stadium in Emerson Park.<\/p>\n

The Explorers’ first home tournament will be June 13-15 at the seventh annual Boulevard Lounge Tournament. The team also will host doubleheaders against the Ashland Mets from June 27-29, as well as two doubleheaders against the Argentina National Team on July 19-20.<\/p>\n

“I’m always happy when we can play in Midland, because we have some very good fields and we all like to get the opportunity to play in Midland,” Beane said.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether they play in Midland or elsewhere, Beane said all the games the Explorers compete in are in preparation for the ASA and ISC tournaments.<\/p>\n

“Last year we really had good tournaments and some tough games, and we played a lot of games but didn’t finish like we would’ve liked to,” Beane said. “But, that’s why we play all these games and do all of this traveling during the year — to get ready for those two tournaments.”<\/p>\n

The Explorers’ first game at the Legends of Fastball Tournament in Kitchener, Ont., is at 9 p.m. Friday against CPI (N.Y.).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission from: (click logo to visit official website of midland.com) Explorers have new faces as season opens Friday By Cash Kruth Published: Thursday, May 29, 2008 11:48 AM EDT As the Midland Explorers prepare to open their season this weekend in Kitchener, Ont., manager Clint Beane is excited for the season to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/morningbrief\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}