Spartans rebounding after slow start

After a start to the season that saw the Mississauga Spartans drop seven of their first nine games, things were looking dire for the Upper Canada Division club. But GM Blue Pasquale fought the urge to tinker with the roster and decided to stay the course.

"You know, everyone's in the same boat with this start-from-scratch season," he explained. "GMs think they know what kind of team they have, but it's simply far too early to get a proper line on how good or bad your team is this early in the year."

Pasquale's patience paid off as the Spartans are now 14-3 since that stumble out of the gate and sit two games back of the division-leading Thunder Bay Bombers. Right now, all four teams in the division are well over .500 and the fourth-place Whitby Battalion are only a game behind Mississauga with a record of 15-11.

So far, the team has been led by its bats and bullpen. The team sits in the top three of many offensive categories in the Big East Division and is first in bullpen ERA, overcoming the starters' collective ninth overall placing. Leadoff hitter David Fisher is currently fifth in the league in batting average at .368 and has won a Player of the Week Award and Sergio Barrera's eight homeruns is tied for the league lead.

"Our starters struggled out of the gate and that makes their ERA look worse than the way they've been pitching over the past few games," said Pasquale. "We'll be patient with them, to an extent, as we have several guys who are pitching lights-out in the minors right now and we won't hesitiate to make a move when it's necessary."

The Spartans close out April with a three-game set at Maine before heading south to face Key West Pelicans.