Summer Collegiate
Getting To Know Your Nanaimo NightOwls: Episode One With Catcher Brock Wirthgen
NANAIMO, B.C. — I want to do something a little different this season and introduce our players to the fans. I will be doing player profiles, so you can get to know your Nanaimo NightOwls a little bit better! The first player profile is one of our catchers, Brock Wirthgen, who wasn’t always a catcher and didn’t always play baseball. We will take a look back at the past and find out what’s in store for these young student-athletes in the future.
I started off asking Brock how he got into baseball, “I got into baseball at the young age of 4, my dad kind of pushed me to play the sport.” Which completely contradicts what his dad Phil told me. Nice try Phil! He would continue, “I started getting serious about the sport when I was around 10. I was watching my cousins play, and ever since then, I fell in love with the sport.”
Brock’s parents were also in town from California for a homestand, and I was lucky enough to catch up with his dad and ask him some questions about Brock. I asked about the family’s sports history. Phil played Water Polo and swam, and Brock’s mom and her family had a baseball background. Brock started as a pitcher, they told me, and had to adjust to how competitive things are down in California. He could hit and catch, and made the switch to Catcher. I asked him about changing positions from the mound to behind the plate.
“Well I’ve always grown up as a catcher, that was my first position I played. Then I started to pitch when I was 12 and I threw the ball hard so I continued pitching and catching. But as soon as I hit high school my coach told me to prioritize pitching but I always worked catching and hitting in. But my senior of high school I started as a pitcher and none of our catchers were hitting so my coach put me behind the plate and then I started hitting and that’s when I made the decision to scratch pitching and continue as a catcher.”
Catcher Brock Wirthgen (Photo Credit: Chad Frostad)
The 6’1 catcher who has now committed to Hawai’i Pacific University has been a fan favorite this season with his fun personality and great play behind the plate. He has been hitting for power this season, and opposing pitchers would rather give him a free pass than pitch to him. Brock has 14 hits, five walks, two home runs, and six RBIs so far this season for the Nanaimo NightOwls. I wanted to know his approach at the plate.
“The approach I take to the box is pretty simple. I want to beat the pitcher doesn’t matter if I get out or get a hit. I just want to beat the pitcher.” You can see why he does so well at the plate from that answer.
https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv/
Brock was a multi sport athlete and played baseball and football and was a defensive end and offensive line his dad Phil told me, “So he played Football all the way up until high school…O-Line and D-Line so he was on the ends, left tackle and he was pretty good on special teams.” I wanted to know if anything from football translated over to baseball for Wirthgen?
“Playing football when I was younger helped tremendously both physically and mentally. Physically it put me in a better shape and mentally it made me tougher. It also helped me with my plan, because with being on the o line and d line made me think more and more about the game of football. Like what blocking assignment I had and it made me more patient because of the snap count.”
NightOwls Catcher Brock Wirthgen (Photo Credit: Chad Frostad)
The Nanaimo NightOwls are a summer league so I wanted to get his plans for the future and what he hopes to accomplish in his career? ” My future plans and goals are of course to try and play baseball for as long as possible. But I do want to get my degree and find a possible route in sales or become a fire fighter or something with law enforcement.” With Mustache Brock would make a pretty mean cop but I Imagine his baseball career could get in the way of that for now.
http://Nanaimonightowls.com/tickets
The NightOwls continue their homestand Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 11th, 12th, and 13th as the Wenatchee AppleSox head into town. Make sure to come out and support the team and tag any social media posts with the Hashtag #IlluminuteTheDark and we will try share your pictures on our social media!
Of course, I needed an embarrassing story about Brock from his dad, instead he gave me a golden quote when I asked, “You know what, he does a pretty good job of embarrassing himself.” He went on to spill Jam all over the locker room a couple of days later so I didn’t need any follow up.
Summer Collegiate
Victoria HarbourCats – Shepherd returns in 2026 with sights set on new record and more
2025 All-Star Logan Shepherd returns in 2026 with his sights set on besting the HarbourCats franchise home run record and bringing a WCL title to Victoria.
By Norm LeBus
The HarbourCats’ designated hitter says he’s breaking the team home record this season. But Logan Shepherd is the first to admit he’s not really trying to.
Batting for long balls is a fool’s errand, he says.
“You’re going to start popping the ball up in the infield or hitting really lazy fly balls,” the 21-year-old Olympia, Washington native says. “Home runs for me are never necessarily on purpose, they’re always sort of an accidental thing.”
Oops – Shepherd went yard in his very first at bat of the ‘Cats home opener last year.
The count was 2-1, he recalls, and he was sitting on a fastball, middle, middle away. That’s the pitch Shepherd hits best, and what he focuses on at the plate.
“Because it’s a lot easier to adjust from a fastball to an off-speed pitch than the other way,” he says. “If you’re not on time ready to hit a fastball, you’re going to foul it off or you’re going to swing and miss. There’s no in between.”
Shepherd made big strides with his bat two years ago. During his first year at Tacoma CC, he lacked the hip rotation that powers explosiveness. In a classic swing, first the hips open (rotate), then the torso and shoulders follow, in concert and in synchronicity. The bat then extends in a slight upward arc at contact.
Shepherd explained that because he lacked hip flexibility, he couldn’t adequately “separate” his lower and upper body and was “falling” into pitches and rotating late.
He spent time with a private baseball company, Driveline, who incorporate data-driven player development through motion capture, force plates and physics to help fine tune a swing.
“They really helped me unlock untapped potential,” Shepherd says. “So that really helped with home run ball projection and all that kind of stuff.”
Last season, Shepherd was the Harbourcats DH; hitting .345 over 40 games with nine doubles and eight home runs (The team record is nine dingers).
Shepherd came to the ‘Cats last season projected as a first baseman. But he admits he was less of a natural at the bag than at bat. As a youth, Shepherd played middle infield. But at Tacoma Community College, he realized a 6-2, 210-pound athlete is not playing second base.
“They kind of threw me to the wolves at Tacoma,” he says. “I didn’t have a whole lot of coaching on that, playing first…so I kind of learned how to play the position by myself.”
Last year in Victoria, the ‘Cats had players with NCAA division one experience at first base, so Shepherd helped where he could.
“I was learning from them (‘Cats first baggers) all the time, but when coach Haney put me in the DH spot, I kind of was able to just focus on what I feel I’m best at, and that’s hitting, he says. “When I was able to lock in and focus on that, that was me making my contribution to the team and doing what I could to help us win.
Shepherd is currently on baseball scholarship at NCAA Division 1 school Mercer College in Macon, Georgia, where he’s been training at first base since last September. The school plays a Southern Conference schedule of 56 games that begins February 13 out of 1,500 seat OrthoGeorgia Park.
“Now that I have a coaching staff that’s been able to get down and work with me on certain positional things, it’s been a lot better,” Shepherd says. “I’ve really developed in the position a lot over that last six months or so, just being here.”
Shepherd is penciled in at first base and batting lead-off or in the three hole, he says. And playing first carries more defensive duties than spitting out sunflower seeds on the bench DH-ing.
“100 percent,” he says. “So I had to work on my flexibility a little bit, and over time that got better; it all goes hand in hand. It not only made me a better first baseman, but a little bit faster, as well.”
As savvy fans realize, first base is a huge responsibility. Infield outs aren’t registered if the first basemen doesn’t have a good stretch – and really good hands.
HarbourCats’ fans will look forward to Shepherd’s return in 2026!
“You always got to be prepared for a bad throw, it’s a lot easier to relax and then just catch it instead of having to react and pick something out,” Shepherd says, “You’re already in a good position to handle that bad throw, no matter how bad it looks.”
So.
Faster, more flexible and coming back to Victoria in June in with a first season at first base at Mercer College.
Sounds like a home run record.
“Home runs for me are never on purpose, they are always kind of an accidental thing,” Shepherd says. “But once you catch it on the sweet spot of the barrel, it doesn’t feel like you’ve hit anything; it’s like you hit a marshmallow. You know you got it real good.
Harbourcats fans say: sweet.
Shepherd and the HarbourCats begin their 2026 season on May 29th with a visit to Portland and then return to Victoria for the Home Opener against the Edmonton Riverhawks on Tuesday, June 2, 6:30 pm.
Season tickets, single-game tickets, 12 and 32-game flex packs and 2026 All-Star Game ticket packages are now on sale at harbourcats.com/tickets or at the HarbourCats office at 1814 Vancouver Street.
Nanaimo NightOwls fans have truly enjoyed watching great players from Hawaii on the Serauxmen Stadium diamond, and that will again be the case in 2026.
Head Coach Cody Andreychuk is pleased to add seven more players today — four from Hawaii Pacific (Honolulu), including one returning player, along with a Canadian pitcher, a returning catcher who is at a strong D1 school in Texas, and the brother of a 2025 NightOwls infielder.
“We all remember Hawaiian star Elijah Ickes and him being our first drafted player (by the Texas Rangers) — guys from the islands have thrived on our island,” said Managing Partner Jim Swanson. “We have had a strong record with players wanting to play multiple summers for our fans, for our coaching staff and becoming very close with our staff. We are proud of that.”
Announced today by Coach Andreychuk:
LHP Joshua Rego, Hawaii Pacific University, 6-4/175, L/L, Kapa’a, HI
RHP Jayden Gabrillo, Hawaii Pacific, L/R, 5-8/165, Ewa Beach, HI
IF Kyler Shojinaga, Hawaii Pacific, R/R, 5-6/160, Honolulu, HI
OF Ziah Chang, Hawaii Pacific, R/R, 5-10/170, Kahului, HI
RHP Zander Oudie-Senger, Okanagan College, R/R, 6-3/190, Regina, SK
C Clark Springs, University of Texas-Arlington, R/R, 5-11/190, Southlake, TX
OF Aidan Nykoluk, Ventura Community College, R/R, 6-0/195, Simi Valley, CA
Rego is a promising lefty who is making a strong transition to the college level, with upper 80s velocity and a feel for how to pitch — he will develop further under Gorman Heimueller, the fifth-year pitching coach of the NightOwls.
Shojinaga is a slick-fielding freshman who draws comparisons to great Hawaii-groomed shortstops of the past, including Ickes. He will grind out at-bats and get on base for the power bats in the lineup. As both a shortstop and pitcher, he was league MVP in his senior year of high school.
Gabrillo, who can also play infield, returns after a strong summer in Nanaimo in 2025 which put him in a lead pitching role for HPU this spring. He was 1-2 with 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings for the NightOwls last summer.
Chang is a young outfielder known for his defensive game and speed that puts pressure on the basepaths. He stole eight bases in 23 games in a lower level summer league in 2025.
Oudie-Senger has been a top starter for Okanagan College and played four years for his hometown summer team in the WCBL, looking for a more professional experience at the end of his career. An innings-eater, he was a combined 10-3 for Regina,
Springs was part of the strong catching crew for the NightOwls in 2024 and loved the experience — famously driving all the way from his home in Texas to proudly play in Nanaimo. A strong defensive catcher who swings the bat well, he was at top-rated Weatherford College (junior college) before earning a scholarship at UTA. He had a home run and just five strikeouts in 23 games for the NightOwls.
Nykoluk is the brother of Andrew, a senior pitcher who moved to the mound after years as an infielder at HPU. Aidan is off to a great start at Ventura, batting .350, a strong defender with a potent bat.
Respected island businessman John Wilson has been named President of the company that oversees the successful collegiate baseball teams based in Victoria and Nanaimo.
Wilson, the CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and whose family owns and operates the Wilson’s Group of Companies, has been part of the core ownership group of the Victoria HarbourCats since 2015, and the Nanaimo NightOwls since inception in 2020 (started play in 2022). The NightOwls, a rival to the HarbourCats on the field, play at historic Serauxmen Stadium.
Wilson takes the position from Ken Swanson, who remains on the board after a solid 10-year run as team president. The group also operates the Victoria Collegiate (CCBC) baseball program and the busy indoor facility on Cook St., the Edwards Family Training Centre.
“Ken has led the corporate structure well, and he’s deserving of a break,” said Wilson. “We have a strong and committed group of owners and staff and a refresh is good for us all, keeping these teams playing great baseball and positively impacting these amazing communities in a stable, creative manner. Ken literally leaves big shoes to fill.”
The HarbourCats, which started play in 2013, will host the WCL All-Star Game in 2026 and 2027, showcasing the island’s immense love of baseball and the team that helped produce eight current MLB players including Nathan Lukes (Blue Jays), Nick Pivetta (Padres), Cade Smith (Guardians), Andrew Vaughn (Brewers) and Chase Meidroth (White Sox). The 2026 all-star festival will take place July 14-15 using Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park and sites around the South Island, with exciting details to come.
Wilson and Swanson lead a nine-member ownership group that includes Rich Harder, Helen Edwards, Mike Macdonell, Sean Finn, Vic Vendetti, John Schnaderbeck and Jim Swanson.
“No one knows the community like John, so we are all looking forward to what will be a flawless transition that will bring some new life to the organization,” said Ken Swanson.
The management structure remains the same — former GM Jim Swanson in the Managing Partner role, overseeing day-to-day operations, assisted by Adrian Somers (Business Operations and Marketing). In Victoria, Christian Stewart (General Manager) and John Pollard (Marketing Director) remain in place, while Tina Cornett continues her strong leadership in Nanaimo as General Manager, with Kent Malpass overseeing the concession.
The teams maintain wholly separate coaching staffs and recruiting processes — veteran Todd Haney, a five-year MLB player, as the sixth-year Head Coach in Victoria, and local product Cody Andreychuk, a collegiate program head coach at University of Pikeville, enters his second season in Nanaimo, assisted by pitching coach Gorman Heimueller, who has three World Series rings from his 50 years in the game.
Tickets are selling fast…get yours today. www.NanaimoNightOwls.com/ticketinfo
Victoria HarbourCats – Shepherd returns in 2026 with sights set on new record and more
Hawaiian Pipeline Continues For NightOwls. Seven Players Added To 2026 Roster
John Wilson Named As New Team President
You must be logged in to post a comment Login