Ray Chadwick spent part of his day off watching baseball at NorBrock Stadium.

For most, that would be a great way to spend a Friday. For Chadwick, it was baffling and frustrating.

Chadwick's Kamloops Sundevils didn't play on the second day of the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament, which continues today and Sunday at NorBrock.

The Sundevils played twice Thursday, splitting their games. Kamloops' final round-robin game is today, 9:30 a.m., against the Red Deer Riggers.

In an eight-team, four-day tournament, there should be no way a team - let alone the host team - should have to spend a day in the stands, Chadwick contended. But it's happening at KIBT this year.

"They choose to screw us every year, however they can," Chadwick said. "It's frustrating that we have to deal with the way they treat us, but we're going to battle."

That wasn't the only concern Chadwick had with the draw.

He felt that the Sundevils got "screwed" by the schedule on the first day. Kamloops opened with a 5-0 victory over the Northwest Honkers, before losing 5-4 to the Everett Merchants.

Because the Merchants were playing their first game of the tournament and the Sundevils were playing their second, Everett had a pitching advantage, where it was able to throw its No. 1 guy against Kamloops' No. 2 guy. Chadwick said the Merchants have had trouble in the past with Kamloops ace Wataru Asaoka, who threw a two-hitter against Northwest.

"The way they do the draw is wrong - it sucks for us," Chadwick said. "Nobody should be playing their first game against somebody who's playing their second game.

"There's no way (Everett) wanted to see Wataru after he just pitched against them down there (on Sunday) and they beat us 2-1 in 10 innings."

Dean Padar, president of KIBT, said it wasn't intentional, and admitted that mistakes were made in doing the draw.

"I spoke with some of the others on the tournament committee, and I guess we're more or less admitting that we did do something wrong," Padar said. "We were at fault, to some degree."

Chadwick felt that the home team should be treated better by the tournament organizers. He also claimed the organizers go out of their way to make it tougher for his team, and easier for others, like the Seattle Studs.

"The home team is Seattle, and they'll get whatever they want," Chadwick said. "They joke with us about it, about how when they come here, they're more the home team.

"They joke that it's a great place to play, as long as you're not from here."

But Padar denied that, wondering how the tournament would benefit from sabotaging the host team.

"The farther Kamloops goes, the more people we get in the seats and the better our bottom line is," Padar said. "For us to try to sabotage a Kamloops team would be just shooting ourselves in the foot."

Padar said that he and the organizers got so focused on having Kamloops play the Thursday night game that they had their hands tied when it came to scheduling Friday night's marquee game.

Normally, it would have featured the biggest draw - the Sundevils - but instead the Seattle Studs took on the Thurston County Senators.

"They have no idea how many people have asked me why we're not playing on Friday night," Chadwick said. "People have told me that they aren't coming if we aren't playing."

Padar, while noting that the Sundevils probably should have been playing last night, said that the schedule wasn't kept secret before the tournament, and that Chadwick could have brought forth his concerns.

"Ray hasn't gotten along with us for quite a few years now," he said. "I want to speak to him personally, and hopefully we can get a better line of communication.

"This draw has been out probably since March or April, and I'd have liked for him to have approached us and say 'Hey, I'm not happy with this.' "

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca