Pirates open season Friday at Larson Playfield

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Pirates baseball team will begin their 2009 West Coast League campaign Friday night at Larson Playfield when they host the Wenatchee AppleSox.

The Pirates are comprised of some of the best collegiate baseball players in the country and Moses Lake Pirates owner and general manager Brent Kirwan is excited for the upcoming season.

“It’s going to be a great year,” he said.

The Pirates will begin West Coast League play Friday and Kirwan said members of his team began arriving over the weekend.

“Players started showing up (Sunday night) and Monday,” he said.

Kirwan is in his fourth year with the Pirates and he said he enjoys what the organization brings to the Moses Lake community.

“I followed the (West Coast League) two years before I applied for a team,” he said. “I liked what I saw from the league. I liked the professionalism and the fact that it was a wooden-bat league.”

Moses Lake won the championship two years ago and Kirwan said he hopes his 2009 team can recapture some of the success the Pirates found on the diamond in just their second year of competition.

“We won the championship in (2007),” Kirwan said.

The Pirates wrapped up the 2008 season with a 13-29 record and Kirwan made a significant change in the offseason — naming assistant coach Steve Keller manager.

While Keller is in his first season at the helm for the Pirates, he is confident in his ability to lead his ballclub.

“I want to teach them the game so they don’t need a coach to play it,” he said. “The goal (this season) is to make (the players) better than (they) are right now.”

Keller said the 2008 Pirates were a talented team but they  couldn’t bring it together on the field.

“We had a lot of talented players last year who didn’t know how to swing a wood bat,” he said.

Keller said he believes the team he has assembled for the 2009 season is a talented group of individuals as well.

“We set up the team with what we thought would work best,” he said. “I needed pitchers who can throw strikes and players who are competitive. We want to put the players in successful situations.”

With Friday night’s season opener less than a week away, Keller said he is excited for West Coast League play to begin.

“I am really jacked,” he said. “I can’t wait. Everyone is excited.”

The Pirates look to improve on last season’s 13-29 record and Kirwan is humbled by the support of the Moses Lake community.

“Moses Lake is the smallest community in the West Coast League,” he said. “There is a reason why  we have the largest attendance in the league.”

The Pirates have brought together players from as far away as Florida and as close as Moses Lake High School.

Curran Redal and Zane Bator each played baseball for the Chiefs and are excited to wear the black and red of the Moses Lake Pirates this season.

“It’s a comfortable feeling to come back and play in front of your friends and family,” Bator said. “It’s nice to come back and play at home.”

Although Redal will suit up for Moses Lake this summer, his stint with the Pirates will be short-lived. Redal will undergo Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow June 12.

“I am just trying to have fun for the weekend,” Redal said of the few games he will play for the Pirates. “I’m trying to enjoy it while I can.”

Moses Lake is scheduled to host 24 home games this season and Kirwan said he is thankful  for the community’s continued support.

“The people here love the Pirates,” he said. “It’s been great watching the team grow.”

The Pirates will kick off the season Friday night at 7:35 p.m. against the Wenatchee AppleSox at Larson Playfield.