The Story of the QPBA

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QPBA 2013 FINALS

Game 1: Victoriaville @ Trois-Rivières
On the mound: Kevin Tippett vs Carl Field

TR pulls out the win, scoring four runs in the 3rd inning. They were never really scared, ending up winning by a score of 9-2, producing 12 runs.

Game 2: Victoriaville @ Trois-Rivières
On the mound: Ray Thorpe vs Randy Skiffington

In similar fashion to game one, Victoriaville pulls out the big win, scoring five runs in the 5th and cramming 13 hits on the Gems. Series' tied at 1 going to Victo.

Game 3: Trois-Rivières @ Victoriaville
On the mound: Brandan Dowell vs Kyle Gillepsie

Victoriaville wins a tight affair, 3-2. They scored two runs in the 8th and the Gems could never recover. Is this the end ?

Game 4: Trois-Rivières @ Victoriaville
On the mound: Carl Field vs Kevin Tippett

Re-match on the mound of game 1. Field comes out the winner again. This time, an epic game saw the Gems stretch the game into the 10th inning, winning on a sacrifice fly, 5-4. Game 5 will be necessary.

Game 5: Victoriaville @ Trois-Rivières
On the mound: Ray Thorpe vs Randy Skiffington

The Lions dominated the game and are crowned the 2013 QPBA champions! The 1st ever champs ! They got 10 hits and scored 5 points en route to 5-2 win.

Here was the roster for the 21-17 Lions, who went 5-2 in the post-season:

SP Ray Thorpe
SP Kyle Gillepsie
SP Kevin Tippett
CL Christian Besson
MR Claude Angot
MR Bill Coles
MR Charlie Giddens
MR Martin Downie
C Georges Landais
1B Ray Norris
2B Matt MacDormond
3B Lucien Duclos
SS Porter Street
LF Zi-cheng Lum
CF Wu-sheng Li
RF Charly Rodrigues

SP Ray Thorpe is the MVP.

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2013 PITCHING LEADERS



2013 BATTING LEADERS

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2013 ALL-PROVINCE TEAM:

P - Tim Gamble, Trois-Rivières Gems
C - Joseph Monnier, Montréal Warriors
1B - John Lannigan, Sherbrooke Arsenal
2B - Patrick Froment, Chicoutimi Cardinals
3B - Curt Callaghan, Laval Vultures
SS - Darby Rudge, Trois-Rivières Gems
LF - Tom Rattray, Sherbrooke Arsenal
CF - Mark Trenholm, Québec City Patriots
RF - Chris Fullerton, Sherbrooke Arsenal

2013 TOP PITCHER AWARD:

Richard Chartrand, Québec City Patriots
6-1 record, 1.71 ERA

2013 TOP BATTER AWARD:

Al Schurman, Montréal Warriors
131 AB, 7 HR, 24 RBI, .344%

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SHERBROOKE ARSENAL 2013 BATTING LEADERS:




SHERBROOKE ARSENAL 2013 PITCHING LEADERS:

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MEETINGS WITH GM ANDREW PINK

Field Players:

SS Ming-an Tieh, 37 years old (Final grade: 64%)
»» A team that had such offensive power, the veteran Tieh wasn't expected to lead any categories whatsoever, he was just expecting to provide steady offense at the top of the order. He ended up with a .322 OBP and two stolen bases. Unfortunately, he was dead last among starters for batting AVG with .234.

1B John Lannigan, 33 years old (Final grade: 81%)
»» Lanny ranked 2nd league-wide for OBP and tied at 3rd for home runs. Offensively, he was pretty much perfect this season for my team. Unfortunately, he commited 7 errors, the most on the team. Given that the team's struggles were mainly on the defensive side of the bat, Lannigan's final grade was pushed down quite a bit despite his offensive prowess.

2B Larry Hudson, 31 years old (Final grade: 73%)
»» Hudson had a decent season, placing 4th on team for AVG% despite being mostly at the bottom of the order on most nights. His .341 OBP ranks 6th on the team. Defensively he was alright, but nothing earth-shattering.

3B Bor-zeng Zhuan, 33 years old (Final grade: 86%)
»» Offensively, Zhuan ranks 1st league-wide for doubles, with 12. He also ranks first on the team for batting AVG, with .309%. Defensively, I have nothing to complain about with Zhuan, he was always great. A very solid season for him.

C Jonathan McGrath, 31 years old (Final grade: 54%)
»» McGrath didn't have a very good season, ranking just ahead of Tieh for batting AVG with .235%. He was nothing special on the defensive side of the game either. A poor season by him.

LF Tom Rattray, 26 years old (Final grade: 84%)
»» Rattray had quite the steady season offensively ranking 2nd on the team in hits, 3rd in homeruns and 2nd in RBIs. His .288 batting % is good for 4th among starters. He managed to make zero errors this season and provided great defensive plays from the left field, as the youngest player of the team.

CF Kevin Richer, 27 years old (Final grade: 64%)
»» After being brought in early in the season, Richer couldn't hit a single homerun and had an underwhelming batting AVG of .245. Fortunately, he was quite efficient on the defensive side. Hopefully, he can continue to developp and become better offensively.

RF Chris Fullerton, 29 years old (Final grade: 93%)
»» Fullerton was the first ever QBPA's homerun king with 13 and also lead the league in RBIs with 40. He had an outstanding season and we hope he can continue being on fire next season.

All in all, it was defensively that the team struggled because offensively, let's just say that Rattray, Fullerton and Lannigan really gave nightmares to opposing pitchers.

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MEETINGS WITH GM ANDREW PINK

Pitching Staff:

SP Pierre Serre, 27 years old (Final grade: 87%)
»» After starting cold, Serre really redeemed himself over the year and ended among the league's top pitcher, as expected. He was 2nd for ERA and tied for 4th for stikeouts.

SP Rick Snow, 26 years old (Final grade: 89%)
»» Snow was pretty awesome for us after coming in. He is tied for first in W with 6 (perfect 6-0 record) and showed amazing poise this season.

SP Clement Kieffer, 33 years old (Final grade: 65%)
»» Kieffer held a 4-3 record this season with an ERA of 3.04. All in all a pretty average season for the vet, we thought he could be much better than that. Next season, we need to have success in the #3 pitching slot.

SP Herb Acker, 23 years old (Final grade: 71%)
»» Acker was originally a MR but was used as a starter this season and the youngster did not dissapoint. Although he only got a 2-3 record and a poor 3.79 ERA, his play was much better than this and he deserves another chance next season.

SP Alexandre Vigneron, 35 years old (Final grade: 63%)
»» We were not expecting much from this veteran player and he was alright, nothing else.

CL Wayne Fleury, 29 years old (Final grade: 76%)
»» Well Fleury appeared in 16 games this season and registered 7 SV, which is pretty far from the league leaders. He did keep a solid 1.10 ERA and so perhaps it was just a matter of team not setting him up well this season. Hopefully, he will have more opportunities to shine next year.

MR Don Hennigar, 31 years old, (Final grade: 65%)
»» Hennigar was our most important set-up man this season and his 3-0 record definitely show that despite a putrid 7.32 ERA.

MR Chris Shiplack, 24 years old (Final grade: 74%)
»» Shiplack was often the first reliever to come in after the starter, and he was great posting a 1.25 ERA in 21 innings pitched, never allowing an homerun.

MR Clyde Woodford, 37 years old (Final grade: 45%)
»» Woodford was atrocious this year, posting a 0-3 record despite only pitching 13 innings. He threw away three games that he should have just held right there. Oh, well.

We had some good moments on the mound, unfortunately it seems poor decisions on the field and bad luck/inability to win close games is what did us in this season. There is a positive: we have a lot of good young pitchers on the team that should be back next season.

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For curiosity sake, here is my poorly made-up map of the province of Québec's map and the QPBA teams;

The four middle teams are part of the Metro division, whereas Gatineau (to the West), Sherbrooke (down south) and the two northern teams make up the Provincial division (and travel nightmareish distance to play ball, hehe.)

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THE OFFICIAL QPBA LOGO:

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2013 QPBA OFFSEASON:

First big news came out of a Chicoutimi-Laval trade. 3B Curt Callaghan was dealt by the Vults for a solid reliever in Aubert and a good RF prospect in Gerard Goncalves. Unfortunately, the news came later in the season: Callaghan was injured in training and will miss the entire 2014 season.

Gatineau sent star reliever Norman Carr to Montréal for CL prospect Alan Parsons.

The Gems sent SP Skiffington to Chicoutimi for RF Killian Bannerman.

A weird move by Québec City saw them trade solid CF Mark Trenholm to Gatineau for Cooper Gaudet, only to deal Gaudet BACK to Gatineau for average RF Karl Demay and LF Vincent Gentil. Oh well.

As for us we sent off Kevin Richer to Gatineau for a similar rated 1B, Wing Xun.

We also dealt fricking Clyde Woodford as well as decent prospect Powell Haynes to Trois-Rivières for SP Loic Da Silva.

Over the summer, we decided to make veteran pitcher Alex Vigneron a reliever.

Futhermore, the only big retiree over the summer was Laval's RF Didier Robert, only 25 years old. He is moving on to some MLB minor leagues. He appeared in 16 games last year, boasting a .252 batting average and hitting 3 homers.

2013 DRAFT - FIRST ROUND:
1 Laval - Maurice Schmitt, SS
2 Gatineau - Robert Godard, LF
3 Chicoutimi - Ron Zwicker, LF
4 Sherbrooke - Tim Woodruff, SP
5 Victoriaville - Thierry Riviere, 3B
6 Trois-Rivières - Tim Read, SP
7 Montréal - John Wills, LF
8 Québec City - Berry Davis, SS

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The Experts released today how they think the 2014 season will go down in the Québec Pro Baseball Alliance. Laval should once again finish deadlast whereas last year's champs, the Victoriaville Lions is the team to beat.

Metro Division:
Victoriaville Lions 24-14
Montréal Warriors 21-17
Trois-Rivières Gems 17-21
Laval Vultures 13-25

Provincial Division:
Québec City Patriots 24-14
Sherbrooke Arsenal 23-15
Chicoutimi Cardinals 18-20
Gatineau Attack 13-25

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TOP QPBA BATTERS FOR 2014:



TOP QPBA PITCHERS FOR 2014:



TOP QPBA BATTING PROSPECTS:



TOP QPBA PITCHING PROSPECTS:

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YOUR 2014 SHERBROOKE ARSENAL

PITCHING STAFF:

SP Pierre Serre
SP Rick Snow
SP Clement Kieffer
SP Loic Da Silva
SP Herb Acker

CL Wayne Fleury

MR Don Hennigar
MR Alphonse Viel
MR Dennis Nolan
MR Chris Shiplack
MR Elouan Lemaire
MR Alexandre Vigneron

FIELD PLAYERS:

C Jonathan McGrath
1B John Lannigan
2B Valentin Molina
3B Bor-zeng Zhuan
SS Ming-an Tieh
LF Tom Rattray
CF Fred Barlow
RF Chris Fullerton

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Game 1: Sherbrooke (0-0) @ Gatineau (0-0)
Pierre Serre vs Sam Mills

We win our opening match, 4-2, getting 13 hits through Mills. Serre got 5.2 innings of work and Fleury records the SV. A very good day!

The Cards' star CF Mark Penfield was hurt today and will miss a whole month, which is basically the whole season! Very bad news for Chicoutimi who didn't have the best team to start up with...

Game 2: Sherbrooke (1-0) @ Gatineau (0-1)
Rick Snow vs Thierry Renard

We beat the Attack again, this time by a score of 9-2. Well it looks like the experts were right in saying GAT would be dead last in our division, they really didn't play well in these two opening games on their field. Barlow and Fullerton both had 3 RBIs, and Fullerton actually had two homers this game. Snow got 7 innings of work for the W.

Game 3: Sherbrooke (2-0) @ Trois-Rivières (1-1)
Clement Kieffer vs Paul Maitre

And we absolutely humiliate them, 9-0! Kieffer had 7.2 IP, only allowing 1 hit. Fullerton registered his 3rd homerun of the season already. Molina had 2 RBIs. Well! What a start to the season.

Game 4: Sherbrooke (3-0) @ Trois-Rivières (1-2)
Herb Acker vs Tim Gamble

In a closer affair, we beat them again, 3-2. This time, only allowing them two hits total. Acker got 8 innings of work and Fleury closed this thing up like a champ in the 9th. This is a phenomal start to the season! Couldn't ask for much more.

In other news, Montréal's Joseph Monier, one of the top catcher in the game, got injured and will miss 4 weeks!

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A little backstory on the QPBA...

Ideas were flowing in Pierre-Karl Péladeau's head during the winter of 2013. Here is the man who wants to bring back the Nordiques to the city of Québec. Yes, hockey is the main sport around here, but the NHL refuses to grant Québec City a second chance, even though a new arena is being build right now. In the meantime, Péladeau is thinking about the Expos, another professional team that vanished from the province a couple of years ago.

While it might be impossible to bring back the 'Spos without a new stadium in downtown Montréal, it could be interesting for baseball fans around the province (there are many) to invest their time following a local league made up of all the best Québec baseball players. And then was born the Québec Pro Baseball Alliance.

Following a bunch of meetings, Péladeau build a team of dedicated governors and owners looking to establish a solid league inside the biggest cities of Québec. By June 2013, the league took off.

Now this is not a league where players are getting paid millions to play a game. No, this is basically a semi-pro league like any others probably throughout the Unites States. The skill level isn't all that big, or the players wouldn't be here, of course.

The players work year round. But during two full months, in the hottest days of the summer, they take some vacation... or do they ?

A 38-game schedule was put together and a fantasy draft was conducted. Sherbrooke, Montréal, Gatineau, Québec City, Victoriaville, Chicoutimi, Trois-Rivières and Laval... the QPBA was coming into it's own. No players contract, no free agency. No DH. A playoff format that doesn't forgive.

Everyone set up their own clubs. They found coaches, managers, people to take care of the ballparks. They printed tickets. They advertised all over the province. They got some TV coverage. They got the players to commit themselves to their teams for the whole summer. It was gonna be a beauty.

The games are played in outside ballparks. The temperature in the province during June and July is optimal for baseball. There rarely is a rainy day and the temperature is always around 30C. People did come out to see the players in 2013. Lots of people. The QPBA averaged more than 2500 fans per game on average. More than 4000 during the playoffs. It was a great year and hopefully, the league will continue do do well because baseball is great, at any level, and those are the best Québec has to offer.

And then, the Victoriaville Lions won the 2013 pennant. Who's gonna be the winner in 2014 ?

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Game 5: Laval (1-3) @ Sherbrooke (4-0)
Hudson Berard vs Loic Da Silva

And what else could have happened than us continuing our destroying patterns. This time, a 5-0 shutout against the poor Vultures. Da Silva got tired after 121 pitches and 8.2 innings, therefore Fleury had to come in and finnish the Vults off. What a game for our newest pitcher ! Zhuan and Lannigan both hit homerruns.

Game 6: Laval (1-4) @ Sherbrooke (5-0)
Walton Tiller vs Pierre Serrre

Serre, as the top-rated pitcher in the Alliance, couldn't do much else but shutout the Vultures, too. This time we take it 6-0, scoring four points in the 3rd inning. Serre went 7 innings and Viel, 2. Our dominance is getting ridiculous! Now 6 and 0.

Game 7: Québec City (3-3) @ Sherbrooke (6-0)
Richard Chartrand vs Rick Snow

A big time pitching contest, Chartrand comes out on top, handing us our first lost of the season. It was very close as they won 2-1, and the hits were 7-6 in our favor. Snow did go 8 innings and stroke out 7 batters, but Chartrand comes out with the W and Lupkoski with the SV.

Game 8: Québec City (4-3) @ Sherbrooke (6-1)
Heath O'Connor vs Herb Acker

We get yet ANOTHER shutout, this time 2-0. Québec City has a great team, but we managed to keep it close in this series, and win the second game. Great effort! Barlow got his first homer of the season and Fleury his 4th SV. We improve to 7-1.

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2014 Standings through 8 games:

Metro Division:
Montréal 6-2
Victoriaville 5-3
Trois-Rivières 3-5
Laval 2-6

Provincial Division:
Sherbrooke 7-1
Québec City 4-4
Gatineau 3-5
Chicoutimi 2-6

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Game 9: Shebrooke (7-1) @ Montréal (6-2)
Clement Kieffer vs John Pulsifer

Arsenal win again, 2-1 in a very exciting game which saw both teams tie for hits with 9. Both pitchers went 8 rounds, but Sherbrooke's 2-pts spurge to open the game proved to be the deciding factor in this one.

Game 10: Sherbrooke (8-1) @ Montréal (6-3)
Loic Da Silva vs David Barnaby

Same story! Sherbrooke wins 2-1, this time scoring both their runs in the 4th. Both teams tie for hits and both pitchers go 8 IP! Well! Barnaby did get 8 strikeouts but their offense just couldn't get past our guys today. Fleury gets his 5th save as we improve to an impressive 9-1.

VERY bad news! Our 1st baseman John Lannigan was injured running the bases against Montréal and will likely miss 5 weeks of action, which basically takes us into the playoffs. Wow what a sad way to blow such a great start to our season. Lannigan had 3 homeruns and 11 RBIs this season. Wing Xun will take his place at 1B.

Game 11: Chicoutimi (3-7) @ Sherbrooke (9-1)
Roger Cantwell vs Pierre Serre

Lannigan's absence is already noticeable as we get shutout 2-0 on home field. We only got 4 hits on a very poor Chicoutimi defense. This is depressing.

Game 12: Chicoutimi (4-7) @ Sherbrooke (9-2)
Bill Jefferson vs Rick Snow

AND it is our turn to shut them down, 2-0. We managed 8 hits on one of the Alliance's top pitcher, Jefferson while only allowing 4. Snow got eight innings of work in and Fleury got yet another SV. Snow strokeout 7 batters today in a big win.

The Gems proceeded with major changes to their organization, removing both the GM and the manager of the club. T-R has had a very poor start to their season going 3-9. They've also made a big deal with Victoriaville, acquiring 1B Ray Norris but parting ways with decent reliever Olivier Lacaze and big time prospect CL Kevin Lamy.

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Game 13: Sherbrooke (10-2) @ Victoriaville (6-6)
Clement Kieffer vs Kevin Tippett

Last year's champs Victoriaville Lions' 4-pts push in the 8th inning proved enough for them to beat us 7-4. Unfortunately Kieffer couldnt go past the 6th inning and our poor bullpen was the downfall for us today.

Game 14: Sherbrooke (10-3) @ Victoriaville (7-6)
Herb Acker vs Bill Coles

We put a beatdown on them, 6-3 with 13 hits. Acker was good allowing 4 hits in 7 IP. Gerard Rousseaux replaced Wing at 1st base and played real great, with 3 RBIs.

Game 15: Gatineau (6-8) @ Sherbrooke (11-3)
Sam Mills vs Pierre Serre

Yet another win for the Arsenal, 9-4. Fullerton got his 5th homerun of the year and produced 4 RBIs total. Serre strokeout 10 batters in 7 IP.

Game 16: Gatineau (6-9) @ Sherbrooke (12-3)
Frank Gravois vs Rick Snow

Well Gravois is one of the worst pitcher in the league but we only managed 4 hits against him. Fortunately, Snow and the defense was very good allowing us to come out on top 3-2. Snow went 8 innings, he is really knowing what a heck of a season so far. Fleury with his 7th SV. We're going strong! Now 13-3, what a year!

[QMJHL_GUY]

Game 17: Trois-Rivières (5-11) @ Sherbrooke (13-3)
Brandan Dowell vs Loic Da Silva

We put down yet another big win, 6-3, registering 8 hits. Fullerton and Rattray got 2 RBIs each on home runs. Da Silva allowed only 4 hits in 8 innings to bring his record to 3-0. Our pitchers are doing great !

Game 18: Trois-Rivières (5-12) @ Sherbrooke (14-3)
Paul Maitre vs Clement Kieffer

A big 8-3 win for us, with 14 hits. Fullerton added 4 more RBIs to his season total. Kieffer had 6 strikeouts in 7 IP whereas Shiplack, Viel and Lemaire shared the rest of the work.

Game 19: Sherbrooke (15-3) @ Laval (5-13)
Herb Acker vs Nicolas Garnier

Already the midway point of the season and we are doing amazing! We were facing off against our former pitcher Garnier and we were absolutely horrendous in this game! We really took the Vultures as if they were some AA team. They laughed at us 12-0... yes they did. What a hack! We used 5 pitchers in this one. Honestly, I really need to upgrade this bullpen.

[QMJHL_GUY]

Metro Divison:
Montréal Warriors 14-5
Victoriaville Lions 10-9
Laval Vultures 6-13
Trois-Rivières Gems 5-14

Provincial Division:
Sherbrooke Arsenal 15-4
Québec City Patriots 11-8
Gatineau Attack 8-11
Chicoutimi Cardinals 7-12