Anchors Ready for Early Season Clash with 2023 Champions

The Thorold Anchors (1-1) travel to Beamsville on Friday night for their second road trip of the season to take on the 3-0 Yellow Jackets at Beamsville Lions Park.

Coming off of a thrilling 6-5 walk-off victory on Tuesday night over the St. Catharines Cobras, Anchors manager Aaron McInnis knows this will be an early season test.

“I think that this is going to be one of our tougher road trips,” said McInnis. “The real test here isn’t really our opponent though. It’s more of a can we slay that dragon of becoming a good road team. It’s something we have preached since the beginning of spring training to become a better road team.”

Beamsville returns a loaded roster that includes 2023 NDBA Senior MVP Tyler Wood and 2023 Lou Gazzola Award (League’s Best Pitcher) winner Riley Gray. The Yellow Jackets won both the NDBA League Championship and OBA Senior “A” division titles last year in their inaugural season in Beamsville.

“The victory at home on Tuesday is always a good momentum builder but we’ve always been a good home team,” said McInnis. “I’d like to see us go out on the road and steal a victory.”

The Anchors did have some success against the Yellow Jackets in 2023 compiling a 2-2 record in the regular season and taking the eventual champions to game 3 of their best-of-3 quarterfinal series. 

Friday night’s game promises to be a good measuring stick of where the Anchors stand to begin the 2024 season. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30pm.