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West Coast League

Dr. Randy Gregg and Edmonton Riverhawks preparing for inaugural season

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4 years ago

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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.”

 

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Summer Collegiate

The NightOwls Drop The Series With A 5-2 Loss Heading Into The All-Star Break

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11 hours ago

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July 14, 2025

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NANAIMO, B.C. — It wasn’t our day as the Nanaimo NightOwls dropped the series finally 5-2 to the Wenatchee AppleSox on Sunday. Nanaimo took a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning, but the AppleSox were able to score two runs in the eighth and added two more in the ninth to take the series.

The NightOwls had two runs on 10 hits but committed three errors on the day, which didn’t help their pitchers. The Wenatchee AppleSox had five runs on nine hits with one error. That drops Nanaimo to 17-19 on the year and 3.5 games back of the playoff spot.

https://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=621655

It was a great night for starting NightOwls pitcher, Teague Van Dyke, who went 5.1 innings. The 6’2 right-handed pitcher from Flagstaff, Arizona, gave up just one run on six hits and struck out four. It was a great performance as his family was in town for the weekend to watch him pitch.

Nanaimo NightOwls Vs Wenatchee AppleSox (Photo Credit: Chad Frostad)

Asher DeLeo came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings of perfect ball with two strikeouts. Dalton Hanson was the losing pitcher of record for the Nanaimo NightOwls, and Aidan Gonzalez got the win for the AppleSox, going 3.1 innings and giving up just one run on four hits and striking out five Nanaimo batters.

https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv/

All-Star Talan Zenk was on base three times on the afternoon for the NightOwls. He went one for three with a double, two walks and a run scored. He will be joining fellow NightOwl Jacob Hayes down in Bellingham for the West Coast League All-Star Game.

Nanaimo NightOwls Vs Wenatchee AppleSox (Photo Credit: Chad Frostad)

Hayes had another hit on the day going one for five as he was given the day off from first base. Tyler Arnold was tasked with manning first base and he did an amazing job making a great diving snag in the field and also producing at the plate. Tyler went one for three with a sacrifice fly and single.

http://Nanaimonightowls.com/tickets

A break now for the Nanaimo NightOwls as Monday is an off day before getting back on the field Tuesday July 15th again the Nanaimo Selects in an exhibition game. Then we have the West Coast League All-Star Break on July 16th.

One more exhibition game on Thursday July 17th against the Nanaimo Selects before we get back into league action. Than it’s back on the road for a weekend series against the Wenatchee AppleSox Friday, Saturday and Sunday July 18th, 19th, and 20th. Make sure to follow the team on the live stream and use the hashtag #IlluminuteTheDark on social media so we can engage with you! Go Owls Go, Hoot Hoot!!!!!

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Cats battle their way to another walk-off win

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11 hours ago

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July 14, 2025

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Tanner Beltowski was the hero Sunday afternoon (Photo: Justin P. Morash)

July 13, 2025

For immediate release

VICTORIA, B.C. – The Kelowna Falcons made things interesting late, but the Victoria HarbourCats came out on top with another 10-9 walk-off win.

It was a huge six-run second inning that gave the HarbourCats a dream start to the afternoon. Falcons starter Charles Bower struggled with his control, hitting Cayden Munster (Fresno State) and walking Isaiah Afework (TAMU-CC) with the bases loaded to gift the Cats two runs. An RBI fielder’s choice made it 3-0 before Jack Johnson (Baylor) drove in a pair with a double, pushing the lead to 5-0. JC Allen (UC San Diego) drove in his 17th run of the season in as many games with an RBI single to cap off the inning, extending the lead to 6-0.

BOX SCORE

Logan Rumberg (George Mason) made his fifth start of the campaign and had his best stuff working. He struck out seven batters for the second outing in a row, with the only damage against him coming on a two-run home run surrendered to Zachary Wieder in the third inning.

Dillon Lopez drove in five runs this weekend (Photo: Justin P. Morash)

In the bottom half of the third inning, Dillon Lopez (St. Mary’s) continued his great weekend, hitting a solo home run to make it 7-2.

Braxton Thomas hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning off Cade Rusch (Bellarmine), to cut the HarbourCats’ lead down to 7-5. Thomas was a thorn in the side of Victoria pitchers all weekend, producing seven hits and three home runs in the three-game series.

WCL STANDINGS

The Falcons cut the deficit to one with a bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning, but the Cats restored their multi-run lead in the bottom half with a Garrett Brooks (St. Mary’s) home run and an Allen sacrifice fly.

That 9-6 lead held up until the top of the ninth inning, where the Falcons rallied, scoring three runs in the frame, including a two-out two-run single by Jace Nagler to tie it up at 9-9.

The Cats loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the ninth for Tanner Beltowski (Westmont College), who drew a walk to win the game.

WATCH GAMES HERE

Along with Rusch, Ben Hewitt (Ottawa) and Tyler Patrick (Fresno State) pitched out of the bullpen for Victoria.

It’s all smiles as the HarbourCats sit atop the North Division second half standings with a 10-2 record (Photo: Justin P. Morash)

The HarbourCats are back in action on this $12 Tuesday against the SIBL All-Stars! The WCL All-Star game is Wednesday, July 16. Five HarbourCats are on the North Division team. You can watch the game on MLB.com.

10 and 32-Game Flex Passes and Single Game Tickets are on sale for all home games and “Showcase” events through the HarbourCats’ new and one-and-only ticketing partner SHOWPASS at harbourcats.com/tickets.

Tickets and merchandise can also be purchased in person at the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street or by calling 778-265-0327.

For more updates, be sure to follow @HarbourCats on all social channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

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Summer Collegiate

Two tough innings stop four-game flight for NightOwls

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1 day ago

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July 13, 2025

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After this series, the WCL gets into non-league games and the all-star break — the WCL all-star game goes Wednesday night in Bellingham, with the NightOwls facing the local Nanaimo Selects on Tuesday and Thursday nights, always exciting games of interest with all the former college players from the area getting to share the field with the top current collegiate guys on the NightOwls roster. The Tuesday and Thursday night games are both 6:35pm starts.

 

The NightOwls will be in Wenatchee next weekend, July 18-20, then return home to welcome the Corvallis Knights to Nanaimo for the first time, July 22-24 — all 6:35pm games, a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday set.

 

The NightOwls have just seven regular season home games remaining, including the Sunday/tomorrow game with Wenatchee.

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