West Coast League

Dr. Randy Gregg and Edmonton Riverhawks preparing for inaugural season

Published

5 years ago

December 10, 2021

Dugout Wire Service

Dr. Randy Gregg gets behind the plate after announcing the the newest baseball team in Edmonton, The Riverhawks, a baseball club, which will play out of RE/MAX Field in the n the West Coast League, on Sept. 15, 2020 in Edmonton. PHOTO BY GREG SOUTHAM /Postmedia

By Derek Van Diest – Toronto Sun

Former Edmonton Oilers defenceman Dr. Randy Gregg is spending a lot of his spare time of late at RE/MAX Field in the heart of the river valley.

As the managing director of the Edmonton Riverhawks, Gregg has been working tirelessly to try and get the facility ready for the upcoming West Coast League season, which is a wooden-bat collegiate circuit that operates in the summer.

Dr. Randy Gregg and Edmonton Riverhawks preparing for inaugural season
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The Riverhawks were to play its inaugural season this past summer, but the COVID-19 pandemic made Gregg and his group wait another year.

“All of these young players that are in college, they are wanting to get either drafted or signed, and will be enticed to play summer collegiate baseball,” Gregg said earlier this week. “The Cape Code league is probably the ultimate league on the East Coast, but when it comes to the West, the West Coast League is by far the highest quality league.

“In fact, in 2019, 90 players that were selected in the Major League Draft had played in this league. It’s considerably important for these young players in the summer — not only do they want to get out of Arizona because it’s 120 degrees — but they want to come up and be coached by good quality coaching and get some extra at bats and swings and things like that.”

Gregg won five Stanley Cups with the Oilers during their glory years, but has always had a soft spot for baseball.

“I was probably a better baseball player than hockey player, but by the time I could get a scholarship down in the ’States, I was in medical school,” Gregg said. “And I thought I better not give up medical school. I loved hockey, of course, it’s a great sport, but I also loved baseball.”

The West Coast League is made up of 15 teams divided into three divisions. The South Division comprises of teams in Oregon and Washington, the North is made up from teams in Northern Washington, while the Canada Division has four teams in B.C., along with Edmonton.

“We’re so excited to have our head coach Kelly Stinnett, who played 15 years of Major League Baseball, so he knows what it takes to be at that level,” Gregg said. “And by having a coach with that kind of reputation, we’re getting some young recruits that not only love to come to Edmonton because it’s going to be a lot cooler than it is in the south, but with his reputation, with 9,000 seats here in the city, and the size of Edmonton, we’re going to have a really competitive team and it’s going to be a wonderful experience for our fans to see these young fellas.”

Edmonton will be the biggest market in the league and have the best facility. Gregg and the Riverhawks signed a lease agreement for the Triple-A rated facility and the crew has been hard at work making upgrades to the park.

Along with a new infield turf, the group put up a new scoreboard and made upgrades to the dugouts and club houses.

“It’s amazing. Fans that haven’t been here in a few years are not going to recognize the place with the new turf and everything else going in,” said Riverhawks pitching coach Ethan Elias. “It’s special. I’m really excited to see what we’re going to get and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

“It’s awesome to bring back a really high level of baseball in the West Coast to come play here. It’s going to blow people’s minds the level of talent that’s going to be here, so it’s going to be exciting and I guess the next step is to count the big leaguers we file out of here, that’s kind the goal.”

The Riverhawks replace the Edmonton Prospects as the main tenant at RE/MAX Field. The Prospect, who play in the Western Canadian Baseball League, also a summer wood-bat circuit, are moving to Spruce Grove for the upcoming season.

The Riverhawks’ roster will be made up of college players throughout North America. The 54-games season begins on May 31 and runs through the first week of August.

“We started recruiting players back in June and July,” Elias said. “We have most of our roster already selected, the updates will be coming up here shortly, but it’s an on-going process.

“Guys are going to fall out, guys might get hurt, guys might throw too many innings in the spring for their college teams, respectively, and so we have to adjust, we have to be able to take things as they come and deal with it.”

Either way, the Riverhawks are expecting to field a competitive team out of the gate, using the city and facility as a draw for young college players. Every player in the league has to have at least one year of college eligibility left.

“We’re not going to bring in a guy like Connor McDavid,” Gregg said. “But what we want to do is maybe bring in a young pitcher throwing 95-97 (mph) that is at Arizona State and all of a sudden three or four years from now he’s playing with the Dodgers in Los Angeles and we saw him here in Edmonton.”

Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Dudes Claim Game Two 9-5

Published

8 hours ago

June 18, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Victoria, B.C. – The Cats and Dudes faced off again on Wednesday evening, with Redmond taking a 9-5 victory this time.

It was the Dudes’ turn to strike first tonight. Victoria starting pitcher Carson Ackermann (Tacoma) got two outs in the top of the first before watching a ball sail over the left field fence for the first run of the ballgame. The top of the Cats lineup was quick to answer with a leadoff double by Hayden Woodson (USC), a stolen base, and a Logan Shepherd (Mercer) sacrifice fly to bring home the tying run in the bottom of the first inning.

BOX SCORE

Redmond came close to taking back the lead in the top of the second, but the go-ahead run was gunned down at the plate on a laser beam from Rohne Klein (San Jose State) in left field. Although the Dudes were kept scoreless, Ackermann’s command noticeably wavered in his second inning of work, inspiring a pitching change for the Cats.

Pierce Stone (Regis) appeared on the mound in the top of the third. After a couple of Cats errors led to a go-ahead run for the Dudes, Stone held strong and left the rubber with the Cats down 2-1. The sidewinder returned for the fourth and let another run slip by, but a bizarre Redmond baserunning gaffe somehow resulted in a double-rundown to end the frame.

Photo by JPM Photography

Proven clutch performer Matt Westley (George Mason) drew the score back to even in the bottom of the fourth. Following a couple of stolen bases to create an RISP opportunity, the third baseman sizzled a ball through the infield to tie the game at three.

Hunter Daniels (Phoenix) took control of the mound to kick off the fifth inning, and was immediately greeted by a solo homer to put Redmond back in the lead. The freshman had a shaky inning, walking two batters in a row, but managed to end the frame without surrendering another run. Daniels ran into more trouble in the form of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, walking in three runs to widen the Dudes’ lead to 7-3.

Finn Vlahovic (Collegiate Cats) made his HarbourCats debut in the top of the seventh, working quickly to complete a clean inning. That solid frame paved the way for a Jax Heid (Southeast Oklahoma State) solo blast in the bottom of the seventh to chip away at the lead.

The Cats looked dangerous in the bottom of the eighth, finding themselves with runners on second and third with no outs. Victoria’s offence only scraped together one run on the opportunity though, scoring on a groundout to second base.

Local catcher Jai Berezowski (Victoria Collegiate) made his pitching debut in the top of the ninth inning for the Cats. The backstop-turned-bullpen arm stunned with two straight strikeouts to shut down the Dudes.

Victoria tried and failed to get a rally going in the bottom of the ninth, sealing a 9-5 win for Redmond.

WCL STANDINGS

The Cats finish off the exhibition series on Thursday morning for an 11:05 School Spirit Game!

Single game tickets for all HarbourCats games and the 2026 West Coast League All-Star Game and Home Run Derby are now on sale at http://harbourcats.com/tickets. Season tickets, 12-pack and 32-pack game vouchers may also be bought online or by stopping by the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Offence Prevails in 17-7 Victory Over Redmond

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Hayden Woodson (USC) and many others crossed the plate for the Cats tonight. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Victoria, B.C. – The home team put on a show tonight in a decisive 17-7 defeat of the Redmond Dudes.

The HarbourCats were thankful for the invention of the batting helmet in the first inning. After loading the bases with one out in the opening frame, Redmond pitching walked two batters and plunked three in a row, inviting a parade of runners across the plate. The Cats were more than happy to trade ice packs for runs, taking an early 5-0 lead.

BOX SCORE

Cats starter Asher Clark (Northern Colorado) looked much more controlled, but a line drive to right field drove in Redmond’s first run in the top of the second inning.

It was a full team effort tonight to take away the win. (Photo by JPM Photography)

The onslaught continued for the HarbourCats in their second wave at the plate. A couple of bases loaded walks and singles from Carter Eberhard (Cal Baptist) and Logan Shepherd (Mercer) vaulted the score to 11-1 by the time the dust settled on the second inning.

Redmond fought back once again in the very next inning on the watch of Tate Collins (Arkansas State). The Dudes wrangled two more runs by way of a double off the wall to right field, but still found themselves on the wrong end of an 11-3 ballgame.

The Dudes continued to chip away throughout the middle innings, but were fended off by Collins and Marcus Janovsky (UBC) for the most part. Janovsky in particular put on a reliable performance this evening, striking out three Dudes and giving up one hit in just under two innings of work.

Marcus Janovsky had one of his best outings of the season, tallying three strikeouts. (Photo by JPM Photography)

A seemingly routine single by Logan Shepherd turned into trouble for the Dudes when aggressive baserunning and an errant throw combined. Jax Heid blazed his way around to third base and managed to dash home, scoring lucky number 13 for the Cats.

Flynn Warren (Hawaii Pacific) was tapped in to pitch the seventh and eighth innings, conceding a couple of runs before handing the ball off to Anson Stuckly (Texas A&M Corpus Christi). Stuckly closed it out with a smooth ninth inning and the HarbourCats vacated the field with a 17-7 win.

WCL STANDINGS

The Cats and Dudes do battle twice more this week, once on Wednesday night at 6:35 pm and again on Thursday at 11:05 am for School Spirit Day!

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Kids Major Focus of WCL All-Star Game Festival

Published

2 days ago

June 16, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Victoria baseball and softball organizations combine with HarbourCats and WCL to host largest baseball camp in city’s history. (Photo by Christian J Stewart)

Victoria, B.C. – Baseball is HOT right now in these parts, thanks to an unforgettable World Series run by the Toronto Blue Jays and record success for Canada at the World Baseball Classic, not to mention the amazing Canadian Little League tournament hosted by Layritz last July.

It’s also hot around here because of the continued success of the Victoria HarbourCats in the market, along with record registration numbers with many local organizations for this spring and summer.

Hosting the 2026 Showpass West Coast League All-Star Game Festival at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park gives all local baseball and softball organizations a chance to bond together and take that excitement to the next level with the largest baseball camp in the history of the city planned for parks in the area.

On Wednesday, July 15, from 9 am to noon, baseball organizations around South Vancouver Island will be hosting concurrent camps, just hours before the best of the West Coast League take to the field in the All-Star Game.

“This is a perfect opportunity to bring everyone to the fields, at the same time, and show the spirit of community and power of sport through the strong numbers involved in local baseball — and provide a development opportunity for young players,” said co-chair Dave Cockle, helping lead the youth baseball camps component for the WCL All-Star Game organizing committee. “The goal is to be fully inclusive, affordable, and have all of us in the baseball sphere working together. We think everyone will get behind this, and most already have.”

HarbourCats players and coaches will spread out to the various camp sites around the South Vancouver Island area — the usual Sooke-to-Sidney descriptive for blanket coverage. All ages can register through their catchment organization (see below).

Partnerships are in place to provide each camper a t-shirt, thanks to Victoria author, historian, and philanthropist Helen Edwards, and support also coming through A&W, and the guidance of the hard-working leadership of the provincial sport organization, Baseball BC. It is hoped all Little League, BC Minor and Softball BC organizations will take part in this meaningful and symbolic camps coalition.

The cost per camper will be $40, with all those proceeds staying with the host baseball/softball organization.

Organizations that have jumped on with excitement:

With more associations joining soon!

For more updates, be sure to follow @HarbourCats on all social channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) or visit https://harbourcats.com/wcl/

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