TheT-Birds have four games in five days this week and after two wins in a row last weekend — including a victory over first place Brantford — the players are optimistic they can finally move out of an eighth place tie with Ottawa and even challenge seventh place Guelph in the nine-team loop.

“We’re very close to being the team we expected to be,” said Thunderbirds general manager Larry Wood who had vowed to make changes if the team’s fortunes didn’t begin to improve. “The pitching has drastically improved. We are now getting six or seven quality innings from our starters … that takes a lot of pressure off the middle of the bullpen.”

The Thunderbirds should know the fifth-place Mississauga Twins as well as they know themselves by the end of the weekend as three of those four games are against the Twins starting Wednesday night at home in a makeup game from June 6.

Wood said playing Mississauga that many times in a short span is a good thing.

“We match up pretty well with them,” he said.

Ryan Van Spronsen was expected to start on the mound for Hamilton on Wednesday. Rookie Mike Gottschalk should get his second start of the season in London Friday night. Jordell Farquharson will start in Mississauga Saturday afternoon and Matt Martinow will get the assignment when the Twins return to Bernie Arbour Stadium at 2 p. m. on Sunday.

At Bernie Arbour Stadium last Sunday, 19- year-old Mike Gottschalk, making his first IBL start, allowed two earned runs over five innings to help the T-Birds to a 3-2 win over the Brantford Red Sox.

“For him to come in and beat the number one team like that was just unbelievable,” said Wood. “It was probably the best game we played all season.”

Two days earlier Van Spronsen struck out 12 batters over seven innings as the T-birds edged the Ottawa Fat Cats 2-1 at Bernie Arbour.