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Lethbridge Bulls excited for home opener Friday in new look Spitz Stadium

Jun 5, 2018 | 3:58 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The Western Major Baseball League season didn’t start off the way the Lethbridge Bulls probably would have liked, losing their first three games on the road before a 17-6 thumping of the Fort McMurray Giants for their first win of the season on Sunday, June 3.

But now with two games left before this season’s home opener on Friday, tonight against the Bombers in Brooks and tomorrow night against the Medicine Hat Mavericks, the team is looking forward to playing in new look Spitz Stadium.

General Manager Kevin Kvame says his team started to play a little bit better as the weekend went on, and that the expectation for the season is always the same for them.

“We expect to go out and compete every game, win our fair share of the games, strive for that playoff spot and take a run at the championships in the playoffs. That’s been the philosophy every year, and nothing has changed this year.”

Asked about the challenges of starting with six games on the road, Kvame says he doesn’t think it’s all that bad.

“It was really just four games, as we’ve been home since late Sunday night, and we had yesterday off,” he continued. “The two games tonight and tomorrow are just short trips, so it doesn’t really feel like much of a road trip when you do those short runs.”

The Bulls will have Thursday off, before gearing up for the home opener on Friday against the Okotoks Dawgs.

“Most of the teams either start with three or four games on the road or three or four at home, and we’re at the backend of things for obvious reasons here at the stadium,” Kvame said with a laugh.

Kvame was making reference to the renovations that Spitz Stadium has been undergoing the past few months and will continue to undergo for a while longer.

“Friday will be good to go, there will be a few glitches that people will notice for a little while as we make the adjustments and swing into full operational mode. For the most part, the upper concourse is going to be open to the public and the fencing and the area inside the park is going to be done,” Kvame said, adding they’re going to continue to work on a few improvements as the season goes on.

“Towards the end of the summer that third base concession that we lost a year ago due to a flooding catastrophe is going to be added back in and that should complete our inventory for the stadium fan experience when we finish that off. It’s going to be way more operational than it was a year ago, and we’re really excited about opening it up Friday night,” Kvame stated.

Last year the Bulls finished the regular season 27-21 and went 2-3 in the playoffs.

When it comes to the state of the team this year, Kvame believes they’ll be just fine.

“We have pitchers that are experienced who have been able to get the job done at different levels and we fully expect that to be solid [part of the team] throughout the year. We have some pitchers that haven’t gotten on the field yet, including one of our own from Lethbridge in Chris Stodolka, who is just coming back from the NCAA Div. 3 World Series. His University of Texas at Tyler team won the championship this year, so we’re excited to have him back for one last summer with the Bulls.”

There’s also some new blood on the team, and a good core of young talent according to Kvame.

“I think the pencilled in plan is to have a young player out of the Vauxhall Academy on the mound Friday night, Jaden Griffin. He’s got a pretty good arm, and he’s going to compete against that Okotoks lineup,” Kvame added.

The Bulls are hoping to see good things out of Griffin this season, and they have some other players due to be back in the lineup who could make a big difference.

“I think that last year you saw Jesse Hilyard make a big difference in the outfield and he had a really electric bat as well. I think he’s going to make a difference once he gets back in the lineup, he’s got a little bit of an injury, so we hope to have him back here shortly,” Kvame said, adding there’s a wide range of talent top to bottom in the lineup that’s going to compete each and every night.

Summertime means baseball season, and after all the work that’s gone into transforming Spitz Stadium, Kvame believes the fans are going to enjoy the experience.

“We’re going to ask them to be patient as little last-minute things happen over the next two or three weeks. It’s exciting to see the changes, and it’s exciting to see the new capacity of Spitz Stadium to increase the fan experience. It’s going to be a great place to watch a ballgame, and we’re looking forward to showing it off.”

The Bulls full schedule for the rest of the summer can be found here.

First pitch on Friday night at Spitz Stadium is set for 7:05 p.m.