Summer Collegiate

Lefties rebound to take two of three from NorthPaws

Published

3 years ago

July 21, 2023

Dugout Wire Service

PORT ANGELES, WASH—After beginning the week with a victory, the Kamloops North Paws fell twice to the host Port Angeles Lefties in West Coast League baseball action. Kamloops won the series opener on Tuesday (July 18) 4-2 in 10 innings. But the Lefties came back to win the rest of the battle: 4-1 Wednesday (July 19) and 7-2 on Thursday (July 20).

The results leave Kamloops 2-10 in the second half of the season and 9-30 overall. Port Angeles moves to 4-8 in the second half and 12-27 overall.

Port Angeles took five of the six games against Kamloops in the 2023 regular season.

The NorthPaws return home where they will kick off a six-game set of games at Dearborn Ford Field at NorBrock Stadium. Their first opponents will be the Bellingham Bells starting tomorrow (July 21). Opening pitch is 6:35 PM. Bellingham is 4-6 in their last 10 outings and have an overall record of 25-15.

The Lefties will take the bus to Kelowna to play three games against the Falcons at Elks Stadium beginning tomorrow (July 21).

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

SERIES RECAP:

Tuesday, July 18, 2023: NorthPaws 4 Lefties 2 (10 innings)

Former Lefty Casey Wayne (Phoenix, AZ) came back to haunt his old teammates. He was 1-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in as the NorthPaws held a 2-0 lead after six and a half innings. Port Angeles scored one in the bottom of both the seventh and eighth innings to send it into extra innings. Kamloops notched two in the top of the 10th en route to their ninth win of the season.

Wayne drove in the winning and insurance runs on a single after Cooper Neville (Glendale, AZ) had led off the 10th with a single and Joey Baran (Austin, TX) had walked.

Neville was 2-3 with a run batted in and a run scored.

David Leon (Coppell, TX), the fourth of four pitchers earned the win for Kamloops. He is 3-2 on the year as he went two innings, giving up a run, a hit and had a strike out. Brock Mayer (Torrance, CA), dropped to 0-4 on the year as he gave up two walks, two runs, struck out two and gave up a hit in three and a third innings.

Port Angeles was led offensively by Chanz Doughty (Lacey, WA) who was 1-4 with a run batted in. Kole Becker (San Diego, CA) was 0-3 with a run batted in. Roberto Nunez (Salinas, CA) was 2-3 while Ethan Young (Jefferson, NJ) was 2-4.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598618

Wednesday, July 19, 2023: Lefties 4 NorthPaws 1

The only NorthPaw scoring occurred in the top of the sixth inning when Robin Villeneuve (Gatineau, QC) hit a solo home run-his first of the season. That broke a scoreless tie.

Port Angeles scored three runs in the bottom half of that inning and added one more in the seventh before 632 fans at Civic Field.

Brock Mayer (Torrance, CA) was 2-3 with two runs batted in for the Lefties. Isiah Waltz (Yucaipa, CA) was 2-2 for two runs batted in and a run scored while Chase Taylor (West Jordan, UT) and Aren Arulaga (Laquinta, CA) were both 1-3 with a run scored.

Villeneuve was 1-3 for Kamloops. Gabe Mestas (Durango, CA) was 1-4 while Phoenix Sommay (Temecula, CA) was 1-3.

Mclain Roberts (Auckland, NZ) went six innings to take the loss. He is 1-6 on the year. In this game he gave up three runs on six hits with three strikeouts and walked five. Kassin Matson (Bothell, WA) went seven innings for his first win of the year in his first appearance. He surrendered two hits, walked two and struck out six. Kole Acker (Port Angeles, WA) came on in relief for his first save pitching an inning, striking out two and walking one.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598619

Thursday, July 20, 2023:Lefties 7 NorthPaws 2

Kamloops opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Baran walked and scored on a balk charged to Port Angeles starter Jake Cumming (Reno, NV). Cumming wound up as the winning pitcher going five innings for his first win of the year. He fanned eight while giving up four walks and two hits. He was the first of four Lefties pitchers.

Alexis Gravel (Repentigny, QC) was the losing pitcher in his second start of the summer. He falls to 0-1. Gravel pitched four innings of six hit ball surrendering five runs, walking four and striking out five. Those five runs came in the bottom of the fifth inning when the Lefties took the lead. They added single runs in the sixth and eighth as they had 10 hits and one error in the ball game.

Kamloops got their other run in the top of the ninth when Sommay made it to first on an error and scored on a wild pitch.

Offensively for Port Angeles: Walz was 1-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored. Nunez was 21-3 with a run scored and an run batted in. Chaz Doughty (Lacey, WA) was 2-3 with two runs scored.

For Kamloops: Tyler Glowacki (San Diego, CA) was 2-5. Drew Giannini (Tracy, CA) was 1-4.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598620

NEXT UP FOR THE NORTHPAWS:

The six game homestand for the Paws begins tomorrow (July 21) with an appearance by the Bellingham Bells . These two teams met in Washington State earlier this month: Bellingham is 4-8 in the second half of the West Coast League season and are coming off a 5-4 win on Wednesday (July 19) over Cowlitz.

PLAYERS TO WATCH ON BELLINGHAM:

1. Andrew Valee (Visalia, CA): attends Fresno Pacific University. He leads the team in home runs (3) and RBI (21).

2. Will Armbruester (Sammanish, WA) of Arizona State University has the most wins on the Bells pitching staff with four.

3. Daniel Paret (Miami Lakes, FLA) attends Stetson University and has a team leading 39 strikeouts among the pitchers

4. Anthony Kodama (Mill Creek, WA) attends Edmonds Community College. He has the top batting average on the Bells with .311. That is 18 th best in the WCL.

5. Matt Molina (Alice, TX), of Texas A.U. Corpus Christi has the best earned run average among the Bellingham pitchers at 0.00

Friday’s (July 21) contest will be ‘Country Night’.

Following the visit by Bellingham, 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.

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).

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

Victoria HarbourCats – Cats Stun Elks with Thunderous 18-5 Victory

Published

2 hours ago

July 8, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Victoria, B.C. – The HarbourCats welcomed the Bend Elks to Victoria this evening with a monumental 18-5 takeover to start the series off right.

Although the Elks opened the scoring with a single to centre field in the top of the second, the Cats answered back quickly in the bottom half of the frame. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Bryan Bradshaw (UCSD) dug in for a sacrifice fly, driving in Rohne Klein (San Jose State) from third and tying the game at one apiece.

BOX SCORE

Cats starter and freshly-crowned All-Star Erik Rico (Fresno State) called it a night after three solid innings of work. Rico allowed one run and struck out seven to push his league-leading strikeout count to 40. Flynn Warren (Hawaii Pacific) filled the gap for the fourth, striking out two before letting one batter get away and surrendering a two-run homer. The New Zealand product eventually got the final out he needed, but not before the Elks took a 3-1 lead.

Erik Rico’s league-leading 40 strikeouts are just part of the reason he was selected as a WCL All-Star. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Warren returned for the fifth and gave up a solo homer, but that was the only damage sustained before the Cats defence returned to the dugout down by three.

Victoria finally found some contact in the bottom of the fifth, putting runners on the corners with nobody out once again. A Bend throwing error allowed a run to come in, but a big baserunning mistake by the Cats led to the Elks getting two outs on the play as well.

Inning the sixth showed yet more promise for the HarbourCats, as a couple of early base knocks made it – stop me if you’ve heard this before – runners on the corners with nobody out. The home side continued to put wood on the baseball, eventually bringing in five runs on base hits from Rohne Klein, Tristan Buehring (Whitman), and WCL All-Star David Krahn (UBC). Unsatisfied with a one-run lead, Matt Westley (George Mason) stepped up to the plate with two outs and banished a baseball to the great unknown, busting the game wide open with a three-run homer to make it 10-5.

Matt Westley’s home run was a back-breaker for the Elks. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Patience was the name of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Elks walked the bases loaded and bounced a pitch in front of the plate that allowed Jacob Silva (UTSA) to score. Tristan Buehring followed that up with an RBI single, and David Krahn obliterated his seventh homer of the season. 15-5 for the Cats with two innings to go.

The Cats kept the pressure on, adding a Rohne Klein homer for good measure before Spencer Kratt closed out a three-inning relief appearance, securing a much-needed blowout win for the good guys.

WCL STANDINGS

The HarbourCats are back on the hunt tomorrow night for the second of three games this week against the Elks.

Single game tickets for all HarbourCats games 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.

GET YOUR ALL-STAR TICKETS BEFORE THEY ARE GONE! Tickets for the 2026 WCL All-Star Home Run Derby (featuring former Blue Jay Kevin Pillar) and the West Coast League All Star Game on July 14-15 are selling fast. Get yours today! Each event is now on sale separately, or grab the package deal for both and save a few bucks at http://harbourcats.com/tickets! Or call the office at 778-265-0327 to order by phone.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Former HarbourCat Austin Russell, a WCL all-star, hired to coach Collegiate Cats program

Published

2 days ago

July 6, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

July 5, 2026

VICTORIA, B.C. — Former HarbourCat and WCL All-Star Austin Russell has been handed the reins of Victoria’s year-round collegiate baseball program.

The local product has been hired to lead the Victoria Collegiate Cats of the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC), effective August 1. The team formerly called the Golden Tide will enter its sixth season this fall, based primarily out of Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park.

“I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity and excited to help build a Victoria Collegiate Cats program that the players, alumni and community can be proud of,” said Russell, who played with his brother Ty on the 2013 HarbourCats team. “My time playing college baseball had a tremendous impact on my growth as a person, both on and off the field, and my priority is to provide these young men with that same opportunity — an experience they can look back on with pride and one that helps prepare them for success as they move forward in life.”

Russell, 34, was a member of the inaugural HarbourCats team and the outfielder was selected to play in the WCL all-star game in 2013. He also played summer collegiate baseball in Moose Jaw, and played collegiately at Colby Community College, Southern Polytechnic State, and MacPherson College.

Russell won conference awards as a player at Colby and MacPherson, and still plays in the Mavericks League locally. He represented Victoria in the 2018 Baseball Canada Men’s Nationals on home soil, earning a silver medal.

Russell (left), along with Nick Pivetta (centre) and Connor Russell (no relation)(right) were three of the first HarbourCats players to be signed for the 2013 season (Photo: Christian J. Stewart).

He coached for many years in the Victoria Mariners youth system, and is excited to return to the college level. Pitching Coach Darius Opdam Bak and Assistant Coach Colton O’Brien will return and round out the coaching staff.

Russell will also join Opdam Bak and other WCL HarbourCats coaches in taking an active role with community development initiatives and youth camps.

“This is an exciting announcement for us and we could not be happier to put Austin into the leadership role with the Collegiate Cats as Head Coach,” said Jim Swanson, Managing Partner of the group that owns the Collegiate Cats, the Victoria HarbourCats and Nanaimo NightOwls (West Coast League), and the Edwards Family Training Centre (EFTC) indoor facility.

“Austin is well-known and respected in the baseball world, especially locally, and we know he will put tremendous effort and skill into the role as we continue to grow the Collegiate Cats. He’s excited to get started.”

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Cats Drop Third Game of Kelowna Series

Published

3 days ago

July 5, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Kelowna, B.C. – The HarbourCats took on the Kelowna Falcons for the third game a row this afternoon, losing the final matchup by a score of 9-2.

The Falcons were the first side to find purchase on the offensive side in a long third inning. Cats starter Daniel Tovar (Northern Kentucky) allowed a couple of baserunners on a walk and an error, and was swapped out for right-hander Houston Tomlinson (Arkansas State). Kelowna strung together a few singles together on Tomlinson over the course of the inning, taking a 3-0 lead.

BOX SCORE

The home team followed that up with an uppercut in their next trip to the plate, smashing a three-run homer off of Tomlinson in the fourth to blow the game wide open.

Tate Collins (Arkansas State) took over for the fifth and pitched a clean inning, but was accosted for another scoring trio in the home half of the sixth. A single, a wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly gave the Falcons a daunting 9-0 lead.

The Cats at last found life in the seventh frame, kicked off by a solo bomb off the bat of Fresno State outfielder Marcus Nolen. Matthew Westley (George Mason) followed that homer up with a fine job of manufacturing a run. The Virginia product drew himself a walk, stole two bases, and advanced all the way home on a wild pitch to continue cutting a chunk out of that mountainous lead.

Carson Ackermann (Tacoma) took to the pitcher’s mound in the seventh and only allowed two baserunners across his two innings of work, but in the end the lead proved insurmountable and the Falcons secured a 9-2 win on home turf.

WCL STANDINGS

The HarbourCats will now travel back to Victoria and look to rebound on Tuesday night in the first matchup of a three-game mid-week series versus the Bend Elks.

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