Roumel looking to guide Guelph Royals back to baseball glory
By: Rob Massey, Guelph Today
Dino Roumel, named field manager of the Guelph Royals last month, hopes to be sitting in the dugout in late August next year watching the players on the team jump up and down like little kids after winning the Intercounty Baseball League championship.
“I’m here because I want for us to be successful,” Roumel will tell the players who are going to suit up for the Royals in the 2020 season. “I want to sit back when you guys are celebrating on the mound or celebrating at home plate when we win a championship and take it all in. I want us to do it all together.”
Roumel is back for a second stint as field manager of his hometown team. The first stint included a league title in 1993 that put an end to a 23-year championship drought. It’s now been 15 years since the Royals last won the league crown and they also haven’t been in the league final since then.
Roumel’s goal is to get the Royals their 10th title in league history and to do that he wants his team to be a close one.
“It’s going to show on the field because guys are going to hate letting each other down and you’ll get that little extra effort looking out for each other,” he said. “You don’t have to fight, but you fight for each other. I know there are a lot of cliches there, but the thing is I truly believe it.
“The talent level between teams is so close that it comes down to a lot of intangible things.”
And the 2020 season might just be the right time for a team to come in and dethrone the Barrie Baycats, reigning champions and winners of six consecutive league titles. And the Baycats took over from the Brantford Red Sox who had also won six in a row.
“It’s going to be a really interesting situation in the league the way I see it right now,” Roumel said. “The way that Hamilton came on (last season). The way that Welland came on. Toronto is a team that’s always going to be competitive offensively, especially in that ball park.
“This league is so wide open. It’s going to be a fun summer and a fun league to be around.”