After losing their first game of the season 4-2 in London, the squad of 14 and under players has rolled up 13 consecutive wins. The most recent, a 12-0 romp in Kitchener July 7.

Cardinals head coach Dean Dicenzo credits good pitching and a strong infield for the team’s success.

“We don’t give up too many big innings,” said the veteran baseball coach and former Intercounty Baseball League all-star, who guided the major bantam Hamilton Cobras to a national championship in 2006.

This is Dicenzo’s first year as head coach of this group of young men who play their home games at Mohawk Sports Park. He worked with several of the players as an assistant coach as they came up through the Cardinals’ system.

“We’re an all-rounded team,” said Cardinals pitcher-shortstop Adam Rossit, who along with infielders Marcus Dicenzo and Devin Holmes are among the leaders on the team.

Along with their IBA games against teams from Guelph, Cambridge, London, Waterloo, Stratford, Brantford and Kitchener, the Cardinals have played several games this season in the U. S.

They finished 2-2 at the Firecracker Classic in Sterling Heights, Michigan earlier this month, competing against older all-star teams from across the state.

Marcus Dicenzo said the games against those American squads have made the Cards a better team.

“We get to face better competition than we do in our league,” he said.

In addition to winning a league championship, one of the team’s goals is to do well at the provincial championships in Etobicoke on Labour Day weekend.

Holmes said the Cardinals’ strong infield should carry them a long way against the other top minor bantam teams in Ontario.

“I think we’ll compete provincially,” he said. “Our defence will help us win.”

Despite the team’s success this season, Dicenzo said his troops still have a lot to learn.

“We have talent but we don’t have baseball smarts,” he said. “We have kids that can field the ball, kids that can throw the ball and hit, but they don’t play as a team yet, they don’t know the other parts of baseball, cut-offs, the bunt coverages, the sacrifice bunts, all the other things that go into play.”

Dicenzo said he’s trying to teach the players the nuances of the game, but it hasn’t been easy.

“It takes a lot of patience,” he said. Dicenzo said his experience this season

further illustrates his philosophy that the fundamentals of baseball need to be taught at an early age.

“I’m probably tougher on them then I really should be because there is enough talent there, there are enough guys that have the understanding how to play baseball,” he said.

Dicenzo feels the Cards have an excellent shot at winning a league championship and he’ll have a better idea how they’ll make out provincially at the end of the month when they face some of the top teams in Ontario at a tournament in Mississauga.

“If we improve every week, we should be fine,” he said.