The Carillon Sultans will face the St. Boniface Legionaires Wednesday (7 p.m.) at A.D. Penner Park in Steinbach in game one of their best-of-three opening round series.

The Sultans aren't exactly heading into the Manitoba Junior Baseball League playoffs with a boatload of confidence.

But that can change as quickly as it takes to spark a rally with a two-out, two-run single.

After reaching the .500 mark thanks to an impressive 4-1 victory over the St. James A's back on July 5th that improved their record to 10-10, Carillon lost it's final six games of the regular season schedule including an 11-1 decision to the Elmwood Giants on Monday night at Koskie Field.

It was a tune-up game that Sultans manager Alex Grenier was hoping would give his baseball team a shot of momentum heading into the post-season.

"That was the thought going in, to get some at bats and feel good about going into Wednesday but maybe that wasn't so much the case the way we played, the way we pitched. I'm not terribly disappointed with the way we hit. Our defense and our pitching wasn't the greatest. We didn't get beat by a better team - we beat ourselves, up and down the lineup."

That's been Carillon's achilles heel these last three weeks when you analyze those losses to the A's, Winnipeg South Chiefs, Altona Bisons and the Giants - shooting themselves in the foot due in part to a lack of playing/practice time and players playing out of their normal positions.

"I'm expecting better than what I've seen the last five games," Grenier said. "When you've been playing poorly at some point - something has got to give and it's got to get better and we're hoping that we're going to start that on Wednesday. These are not 10 & 11-year-olds we have here. These are men so they know what's going on. They know what they need to do to right the ship. I'm just hoping that it starts on Wednesday."

The Sultans and Legionaires split the four games they played during the regular season schedule with each team sweeping a doubleheader at the other team's ball park.

Grenier believes his ball team can start the playoffs on a winning note Wednesday night with his regular lineup on the field and this being their third game in four days.

"We can try to eliminate errors, have good at bats and move forward. The guys know that they got to reduce the mistakes they make, come focused, and ready to play."

"We have to step it up here," added Grenier. "Otherwise we're going to go home with our tails between our legs and that will be the end of it. It's time show up for ball."