Sylvan Lake Gulls 2022 team at Gulls stadium. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

First home game: June 1

Sylvan Lake Gulls back for second season in completed new stadium

May 31, 2022 | 12:38 PM

It’s time to play ball for the Sylvan Lake Gulls and the team says fans should expect some excitement for their second season in the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL).

After the WCBL’s season cancellation in 2020, the Gulls completed their first season last year with a record of 23-17, making it to the playoffs before being eliminated by the Lethbridge Bulls.

READ: Gulls first season ends early, but on a high note

This season, the Gulls played their first game on Thursday May 26. Now going 2-2, their first game back on home field will be on June 1 against the Okotoks Dawgs.

What was an all Canadian team in 2021 due to pandemic restrictions is now a 30-player roster with 10 Canadians and 20 Americans, confirms Aqil Samuel, President and Chief Operating Officer for the Gulls.

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Ty Boudreau, right-handed pitcher, is returning for his second season with the team and believes players from the south have made this year’s team even better.

“I think it’s more experience,” he said. “They’re going to bring in another side of baseball and I think that the fans will enjoy it and it will make it interesting.”

Originally from Nova Scotia and now a fire science student in Calgary, Boudreau finished the 2021 summer season as one of the pitchers with a 3.52 Earned Run Average (ERA) with 46 innings pitched, 49 strikeouts and 41 hits.

Head Coach Jason Chatwood says pitching and depth in player diversity are the team’s strengths this year.

“This year is kind of the full season I think everyone was waiting for. Full 11 team league and both divisions going and obviously bringing good players across the border,” said Chatwood.

“We were really spoiled with how the fans treated us last year and I think the players realized that and all of the upgrades to the stadium […] it’s going to be a fun summer.”

The Gulls stadium (6301 Memorial Trail), located at the new Pogadl Park in Sylvan Lake, was not fully completed for the 2021 season with a pandemic 300 seating limit in its 1,384 capacity. However, Samuel says the new upgrades to the stadium this year include a video board, a scoreboard, a new patio with 14 picnic tables fitting 112 guests, placement of all signage and advertising, the addition of 10 already sold suites, a new board and locker room, ticket booth and other aesthetic refinements.

Gulls stadium with new video board and scoreboard (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

“We really wanted to let people know that last year wasn’t what we had intended,” he said. “This year, we want to put our best foot forward and then some. We really want to make the people of central Alberta proud of this.”

That focus on the fans was equally echoed by new American player, outfield, first baseman, Chase Rodriguez. Originally from Las Vegas and currently studying in psychology at Dixie State University in Utah, he says he had only spent one day in Canada in his life. Playing baseball last summer in Alaska, he says he is enjoying making friendships with his teammates and wants to ensure fans are entertained and excited to come to games.

“The fans are going to be awesome,” he said. “I’m just going to make sure I have fun, goof around, make the fans laugh, and try to do what I can.”

The Gulls will play their next game on Tuesday, May 31 against the Edmonton Prospects at 7:05 p.m. at Centennial Park Field 9.