Summer Collegiate

Bells, Smoke take toll on NorthPaws

Published

1 year ago

July 24, 2023

Dugout Wire Service

Author: Larry Read

KAMLOOPS, BC—The Kamloops NorthPaws fell into some old habits and had Mother Nature go against them as they were only able to host the Bellingham Bells in two of three scheduled West Coast League baseball games this weekend.

The Bells took advantage of Kamloops not being able to get runs across and some spotty pitching as they took the Paws 3-0 on Friday (July 21) and 11-9 on Saturday (July 22).

The scheduled third game for Sunday (July 23) was cancelled due to poor air quality as a result of many wildfires in the BC Interior including the Ross Moore Lake blaze, 13 kilometres south of Kamloops.

Bellingham is now 6-8 in the second half and 26-15 overall on the season. Kamloops is 2-12 on the back half of the campaign and is 9-32 overall.

After a day off, the NorthPaws close out their most recent homestand with a three-game series with the Victoria HarbourCats.

Game one of the series is Tuesday, July 25 th at Dearborn Ford Field at Norbrock Stadium. Opening pitch is 6:35 PM. Victoria has lost their last two outings but have a second half record of 10-5 and are 29-13 overall.

Bellingham has a night off and continues their nine game in 11 night road swing with a stopover in Wenatchee, Washington against the AppleSox. Game one of the Bells/AppleSox series is Tuesday July 25th.

All West Coast League games are available via their website: https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv/

SERIES RECAP:

Friday, July 21, 2023: Bells 3 NorthPaws 0

686 people at Dearborn Ford Field at Norbrock Stadium for “Country 103 Night”. The Bells opened the scoring in the top of the third when Coleman Schmidt (Reno, NV) hit a solo home run. It was his second ‘dinger’ of the season.

Bellingham went up 2-0 in the seventh when Cole Yoshida (Vasalia, CA) doubled and scored driving in Ty Saunders (Anacordes, WA). The other Bells run came in the eighth when Andrew Valdez (Visalia, CA) walked and scored on a wild pitch delivered by NorthPaws reliever Marty Recchi (Kamloops, BC).

Schmidt was 1-4 with a run scored and a run batted in. Yoshida was also 1-4 with a run batted in. Sanders was 1-4 with a run scored. Riley Parker (Snohomish, WA) was 1-3 with a run batted in as well for Bellingham.

Offensively, Cooper Neville (Glendale, AZ) was 2-4. Drew Giannini (Tracy, CA) was 2-3 while Phoenix Sommay (Temecula, CA) was 1-3.

Ryan Beitel (Surrey, BC) was the winning pitcher for Bellingham. He moves to 4-1 on the year in his seventh start of the summer. He had a four hitter over four innings and had four strikeouts. Hunter Long (Ladera Ranch,CA) pitched three innings for the save. He struck out five and gave up two hits. It was his first save in five appearances.

Christian Spitz (Overland Park, KS) started his fifth game of the year and was tagged with the loss for Kamloops, He is 1-3 . In this game he went five innings, giving up two hits, one run, striking out four and walking five.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598689

Saturday, July 22, 2023: Bells 11 NorthPaws 9

This was a see saw battle. Bellingham scored twice in the opening inning and were up 3-0 after an inning and a half. Kamloops scored three times in the bottom of the second to tie it.

Then, with the score deadlocked at four in the bottom of the fifth, Kamloops scored four times to take an 8-4 lead. The Bells would then score four in the sixth inning and add three more in the seventh to take an 11-8 lead before the NorthPaws would add one more. Bellingham scored 11 runs on 10 hits and committed one error to Kamloops’ nine runs on 10 hits and four errors.

Yoshida was 2-3 with two runs scored and three runs batted in to lead Bellingham offensively. Dean West (Woodland Hills, CA) hit a homer to lead off the second inning. It was his first ‘round tripper’ of the campaign. He was 3-5 with three runs scored and two runs batted in.

Kamloops was led by Gage Mestas (Durango, CA). He was 4-5 with a double and triple and five runs batted in. Sommay was 2-4 with two runs scored and had a run batted in. Giannini was 1-5 with a run batted in and a run scored.

Thompson Rivers University WolfPack player Lucas Maricle (Trail, BC) made his NorthPaws debut in relief and was tagged with the loss. He went two thirds of an inning giving up two hits, four runs, walking two and striking out one. He was the second of five Kamloops pitchers. Tomas Urbina (Avondale, AZ) was the winner for Bellingham to increase his record to 3-1. He pitched one inning. Trevin Hope (Blaine, WA) pitched three innings for his first save in six appearances. He gave up one run on two hits, walking one and striking out one.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598690

Sunday, July 23, 2023: Game Cancelled due to poor air quality

HEAD COACH KEITH FRANCIS:

On two games:

“We were right there to win both of those games. We cant get over the top for some reason. One night we hit the ball. I think we had five hits the first night. All of the five hits were with two outs. No one was on base. We couldn’t get a hit. Saturday, we scored well but unfortunately our pitching fell apart. Unfortunately, we made some errors, which we hadn’t done for a while (NorthPaws with four errors). Those errors led to runs by them. They came back and we weren’t able to get any closer.”

On upcoming series hosting Victoria/pitching and cancelled game Sunday.:

“They beat us pretty good to start the season. We weren’t hitting or didn’t pitch well. We have three good starters going against them. Even though it was bad we couldn’t play today (Sunday), it actually helps us for the standpoint of our pitching. They got an extra day off. The numbers (of pitchers) are way down. It is just like ‘chess pieces’ now. Just trying to match guys—having them pitch an inning or so out of the pen. It is a struggle. We have to get nine innings done and sometimes we just don’t have enough arms. We got starters. We have enough for every game. It’s the guys coming in behind them where we aren’t getting it done right now.”

NEXT UP FOR THE NORTHPAWS:

The Victoria HarbourCats will be in town for a three game series (July 25-27). The teams met in Victoria on the opening weekend of the season where the HarbourCats swept the NorthPaws.

Wednesday (July 26) will see the NorthPaws honor their “Host Families” during the contest.

PLAYERS TO WATCH ON THE HARBOURCATS:

Hudson Shupe (West Richland, WA). The shortstop leads the West Coast League in hitting at .394.

Tyler Davis (Fresno, CA) has the second most homers in the WCL with 6. He is eighth in the league in hitting with an average of .331.

Dalls Macias (Marker, Col) is 10th in the West Coast League in hitting at .327.

Nick Dumesnil (Huntington, CA) is tied for sixth in the league in homers with four.

Logan MacNeil (Vancouver, BC) leads the HarbourCats in Earned Run Average at 1.50. He has played seven games and has a record of 4-0.

If you can’t make the home games, they are all webcast on https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv/ . Some home games will also be shown on Shaw TV in Kamloops (Cable 10 or 105 with Blue Curve).

NEW FAN PROMOTION:

The NorthPaws are looking for their newest fans. The team is running a promotion right now which sees you capture a $15 ticket for any home game for the remainder of the season. There are only 100 of these tickets avvilable. Visit tickets.northpawsbaseball.ca and click “Find tickets” on the game you would like to attend. Enter “NEWESTFAN’ into the promo code box and the tickets are unlocked!.

TAILGATE PARTY:

The Molson’s Tailgate Party is operating before every NorthPaws home game. It runs Tuesday through Saturday 5-630 PM. The Party runs Sundays noon-1 PM. Hotdogs and a Pilsner are sold for $ 12.00 plus tax.

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Summer Collegiate

NightOwls get the call for International Events

Published

3 days ago

October 18, 2024

Dugout Wire Service

Righthanded pitcher Moosa Nonomiya, a 2024 Owl from Skagit Valley College, is a Japanese resident but his grandmother was from Pakistan, so he is going to be playing for Pakistan in Dubai in November at the Baseball United Arab Classic.

The tournament features nine teams, including India, Palestine, UAE and Pakistan, and is the top competitive event in the history of the Middle East and South Asia.

Nonomiya is also an outfielder for Skagit. Last summer, he started three games and made seven appearances in his 13.2 innings of work — and he has added velocity this fall after strong developmental work with NightOwls pitching coach Gorm Heimueller.

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Summer Collegiate

Nanaimo Boy Returns Home To Lead The NightOwls

Published

5 days ago

October 17, 2024

Dugout Wire Service

A local product is coming home to historic Serauxmen Stadium.

Cody Andreychuk, currently the Head Coach of the University of Pikeville (NAIA, Pikeville, Kentucky), has been named the new top coach with the West Coast League’s Nanaimo NightOwls. He assumes the post immediately.

“Cody is a perfect fit in so many ways to fill the role with Greg Frady stepping down last week,” said General Manager Tina Cornett. “We obviously love that he’s from Nanaimo and will connect with the community very well, but he has a track record of developing players and winning games and will bring that local pride to the NightOwls.”

Andreychuk, who has a degree in Sports Management and a Masters in Business Administration, resides in Pikeville with his daughter Harper.

“I’m grateful and humbled for the opportunity to be the next baseball coach for the Nanaimo NightOwls, and I’d like to thank Jim Swanson and the ownership group for believing in a local guy to come in and lead this program at historic Serauxmen Stadium,” said Andreychuk, 32.

“My daughter and I are excited to be back home on the island for the summer and I look forward to meeting all the fans throughout the season.”

Andreychuk has been head coach at UPike since July of 2021, and his Bears team posted a 30-19 record this past spring. Prior to that, he was at Lindsey Wilson College as both assistant and head coach, and served as an assistant at UPike in 2016 and 2017.

Andreychuk knows summer collegiate baseball well — he was hitting coach and camps coordinator for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod League, the top collegiate summer baseball league.

“Growing up in Nanaimo and playing baseball through the Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association still to this day are some of the most special memories I cherish. I hope we can impact the youth the same way I was impacted growing up playing baseball in Nanaimo.”

Andreychuk is certainly not a stranger to the WCL. In addition to supplying strong UPike players to WCL teams — Riley Paulino and Richtter Castillo among those to be NightOwls — he played for the Kelowna Falcons in 2013, posting a .298 average in 33 games, driving in 17 runs. He played collegiately for the VIU Mariners, and with Tusculum Pioneers of the South Atlantic College before embarking on his coaching career. He batted .437 over 29 games in his first year at Tusculum, with two home runs and 29 RBIs. With VIU, he set records for batting average and triples.

His younger brother Griffin was a star with the Victoria HarbourCats, playing three seasons and having his number retired at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. He helped lead the HarbourCats to a then-league record 40-14 record in 2016, a team that set a WCL mark with 19 straight victories.

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Summer Collegiate

Frady steps down as NightOwls Head Coach

Published

6 days ago

October 15, 2024

Dugout Wire Service

It will be more than a little odd to not see Greg Frady in the Nanaimo NightOwls dugout next summer.

The veteran college and international coach has stepped down as Head Coach of the West Coast League team after three seasons of dedication to setting a strong culture with the Nanaimo NightOwls.

The search for a new Head Coach is expected to be completed shortly and even announced this coming week.

“Greg was our first coach, and his classy way of interacting with the community and leading our players and coaches will never be forgotten,” said Jim Swanson, Managing Partner.

“He set the tone for teams that performed well on the field, and handled themselves with tremendous class on and off the field — he set a professional tone for the NightOwls and was respected by the players and people around the league. We have been blessed to have someone I consider a close friend as our head coach.”

Frady, 61, and his wife Rhonda spent three summers in the Harbour City, enjoying the perfect weather and endless scenery. Frady, a US Open pickleball champion, gave back in many ways but one of them was to hold skills clinics with Nanaimo pickleball players, where he was always smiling and teaching.

Frady had the team in playoff contention all three years, alive for a spot the final week of the expansion 2022 season, and within a couple games of the top eight playoff spots in 2023 and 2024. The last two seasons, the NightOwls finished ninth overall in the 16-team WCL — and eight teams advance. Players selected in the MLB draft from those teams include Elijah Ickes (2023) and Connor Caskenette (2024).

Frady led the expansion edition to a 22-32 record, with a late shot to win the North Division second half, and then posted identical 26-28 marks in 2023 and 2024, for an overall mark of 74-88.

The Fradys have endured some exciting times in the last three years, including the wedding of daughter Bailey, and engagement of son Riley. They also, like all Floridians, have seen hurricanes make a mess of their lives and homes the last few years — Hurricane Ian did damage to their Port Charlotte home two years ago, and Hurricane Milton was a direct hit this past week, leaving the Fradys to deal with damage over the next while, and leading to the decision to let the NightOwls install a new Head Coach.

“We thank Greg and Rhonda — they are tremendous people, and they will always have so many friends in the mid-Island area,” said Swanson.

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