There is one word everyone in the Brewster Baseball Association fears during spring training.
"Injuries" quoted Lumberjacks manager Mons Raider. "No one wants to see injuries. We want the spring to be about shaking off the rust for the veterans while the young guys develop. But you never want to see injuries. It just changes the whole outlook on things when that happens."
Unfortunately that dreaded word bit the Lumberjacks this spring. But fortunately not in a devastating way, though it will cost a few key players some time early and force them to miss opening day against Hawaii this week.
Sammy McNeill, who suffered a back injury during his second spring outing, and Geoffrey Dodson, who suffered a hip injury last week, will both miss Saturday's home opening tilt versus Hawaii. Both players will start the season on the Injured List (IL) and miss a few games.
"Fortunately they won't miss too much time" added Raider. "McNeill suffered his pretty early on in spring and should only miss a week or so of games. Of course he's one of our most important pieces and one we can't afford to lose much this season but fortunately we nabbed Vineyard for this very purpose this off-season. I mean he's not Sammy, but we're confident in what he can do in short periods. As for Dodson, we had some plans for the OF heading into the season that we talked about earlier. You'll likely see a traditional look for our OF to start the season until Geoffrey returns."
Dodson likely won't return for a few weeks but the front office is hopeful that McNeill will return in time for the team's second home series against Vancouver later in April.