The Windsor Stars may not be coming to London for the Baseball Ontario Senior Elimination Tournament, but that doesn’t mean they are just sitting back waiting until Nationals Aug. 22-26 in Windsor, Ontario where they will be the host team.

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“Keith Sanford and I will be keeping an eye on the elims on our computers, but at the same time we will be busy trying to get to the NABF World Series” said Windsor Stars manager Ron Smith.

The Stars entered the U.S. NABF tournament to keep themselves sharp while waiting for the Baseball Canada Senior Men’s Championships to begin where they will be the host team . “We would have loved to come to the elimination tournament in London to go after a sixth straight Provincial Championship.” said Smith who added that a win at elims by the other Windsor team WAA and even Tecumseh Thunder would help the gate at the Baseball Canada Championships. “Hosting the Nationals this year gives us an advantage, but there is also a lot more pressure to get to the Medal Round. The cost of hosting increases each year and we need people in the seats to cover those costs.”

 Despite the Stars’ 32-5 record so far this season Smith describes the season as being ‘tough’ because of having to deal with rain and the weather in general. “Rain has canceled a lot of our practices this summer and it show in our offensive stats. Our pitching has been outstanding and our defensive as well, but batting practice has been limited with all the rain.”

When asked for a prediction of whom the elimination champion might be or even who the final four may be, Ron Smith was very diplomatic, “Picking the final four is not easy. We left the Hap Walters Memorial Tournament (July 19-21 in Mississauga ,  won by SW Mississauga) in the quarter finals. We haven’t seen many teams from across the province, so I will leave that for the other experts on the blogs. We wish all the teams good luck and we look forward to seeing the Ontario representative when they come to Windsor in three weeks for Nationals.”

One thing is for sure, the 2013 Baseball Ontario Senior Men’s Elimination Tournament will be a very wide-open affair, and with the prospect of generally pleasant weather it should be a great time in London.