A local baseball player has been selected for a Canadian all-star team that will be travelling to the Dominic Republic for the Latin American Baseball Classic.
Isiah McDonald, who is currently in Kamloops playing for the RiverDogs, is one of 40 youth ball players for the under 18 tournament which will take place Aug. 5-12.
“There’s a Canadian team that was invited to go down to play at the Dominican Republic and I got selected,” said McDonald. “We’ll go there for a week and play six or seven different countries. We’ll get to play at a Major League Baseball complex. Apparently, there’ll be some kids that are going to get drafted. It should be really good.”
This is McDonald’s second year in Kamloops playing for the Midget AAA RiverDogs. The team is currently third place in the B.C. league behind Chilliwack and Richmond.
“We’re doing really well,” he said. “We won our first nine games of league play. We’re 11 and 2 in our league. The calibre of play is really good.”
McDonald is planning to return to Grand Forks in mid-June for graduation. He is currently completing Grade 12 online after leaving Grand Forks Secondary in March to join the RiverDogs.
“It works out well,” he said. “I’m going to Thompson Rivers University (TRU) next year. So I just practice with the university team every day. It’s good not having to worry about school. I can study whenever I want.”
McDonald is an outfielder who bats left-handed and throws right. He lists his strengths as running and hitting.
McDonald is planning on taking pre-human kinetics at TRU next year and then transferring to UBC for more studies and baseball.
Anyone interested in sponsoring McDonald for his trip to the Dominican Republic can call him at 250-584-4353.