Gemini baseball team looking to get its ‘mojo’ back

Gemini relief pitcher Landon Stortz sends a pitch homeward against Dorchester. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

It’s a storyline Tillsonburg Gemini baseball catcher Liam Nunn heard during the school hockey season: a young team looking to make strides forward as they step up to new challenges.

“Get them acclimated,” said Nunn Wednesday, April 14th at Royal Field in Dorchester, following an 8-0 Thames Valley Regional Athletics shutout loss to the Lord Dorchester Beavers. “Same thing, just gotta get the bats going.

“Clean up some defence, but mostly hitting.”

The Gemini had opened their 2026 season with a 7-3 win over Woodstock CI Red Devils the previous week, pitchers Brendan VanDenNeucker and Kaydin Weaver combining on an 82-pitch victory. The Beavers were a different prospect, a strong combination of both pitching and defence.

“Probably the best team in the league,” said VanDenNeucker, a ‘measuring stick’ as coach Derek Partlo called them.

Tillsonburg’s self-assessed measure is there is room for growth, says centre fielder Nathan Gaitens.

“A lot of young guys,” continued the Gemini leadoff hitter, who also patrols the blueline as a defenceman with the Greater Ontario Hockey League (formerly Junior B) Cambridge Redhawks. Gaitens and company took a 1-0 Sutherland Cup (league championship) lead over the St. Marys Lincolns with a 2-0 win Saturday, April 25. “We’ve just got to get our bats going,” Gaitens added. “Just get our mojo back.”

A Gemini team which went to the provincial Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championship tournament last year, enters this season with high expectations.

“Now it is,” said VanDenNeucker, whose post-game goal had become ‘win the rest.’

“Seven-game season,” added Tillsonburg’s Brodie Seitz. “Gotta adjust quick.”

The Gemini lost two or three key performers from last year’s OFSAA roster says Partlo, but has retained several key veterans. They will have to provide mentorship to a lineup including new players, many adjusting to wood bats for the first time, along with playing against competition which may be several years older.

“We’ve got some good young players, but it’s going to take a little while to get used to this level.”

The learning curve will have to be navigated quickly, but wins in May still mean much more than wins in April, even across a short season.

“If Dorchester is the measuring stick, we’re not too far off and we have a couple of weeks to get where we need to be.”

Partlo looks forward to staying outside on a real diamond, as opposed to working inside a gym as a positive step forward, taking advantage of the opportunity to get a few more practices in.

“And see where we can get to by the end of the year.”