Summer Collegiate

NorthPaws Coaches Learn Along With Players

Published

3 years ago

July 19, 2023

Dugout Wire Service

KAMLOOPS, BC—One of the main purposes of the West Coast League is to develop. For the second year Kamloops NorthPaws franchise, they have taken the 2023 season as a learning experience in every sense.

Not only have the players on this year’s roster learned the ups and downs of summertime baseball, but so too have the coaching staff.

For Keith Francis, Jose Bautista and Fernie Lorea, this season has had more valleys than peaks as they languish in the lower depths of the WCL North Division.

Not to look for excuses, but the coaching staff was ‘behind the eight ball’ before the start of the campaign. Very few of the players recruited to play for the NorthPaws this season were familiar to the three coaches. Francis took over the head coaching job March 31st, just weeks before the start of the season.

“As the season has progressed, I have learned so much about what it takes to compete at a successful level,” he says. “We didn’t get enough pitching for this level. For those who we were expecting to produce offensively have struggled. Add to that, some of the players who were supposed to be here didn’t show up due to injuries. They couldn’t help that. Those who did come here tried to the best of their ability.”

Francis put the players through three days of training before the season started. “There are whole lot of 4 o clock hitters (time for batting practice), but there are very few 7 o clock hitters. We found that out this year.”

He and the coaching staff tried different methods to kick start the players in batting practice while at the same time, keeping a positive attitude. “I try to be a turtle,” Francis says. “Coming out of my shell every day as it is a new day. In baseball, you have a chance to win every day. That is one philosophy the players have come to accept.”

The NorthPaws did have a number of returnees from their inaugural season. Francis praised infielder Tommy Green and pitcher Tyrelle Chadwick for their efforts. “Tommy was a leader both on the field and in the dugout. Chadwick led by example when he was on the mound. “

“We had some younger players who tried to step up despite their inexperience.” Francis pointed to Cooper Neville (Glendale, AZ) and Nathan Grey as two players who have tried to make the most of their opportunity here. “Cooper has been unbelievable and consistently our best player. He has been positive every night. Nathan struggled offensively but as a pitcher, his skills have really come a long this year.”

Jose Bautista came back to Kamloops this season after being with the NorthPaws on their inaugural run. He says the key difference between the two years has been the pitching. “Pitching is key in this league. Last season we had a lot of players who had control of their pitches and were in the right way. This year, the talent level wasn’t as deep. A few guys were doing pretty well but overall, it was tough.”

Bautista felt many of the pitchers on this year’s club were behind developmentally for the calibre of the West Coast League. “It is a big challenge for them to try and compete.”

During a short season, Bautista tries to build a relationship quickly. “We try to focus in on one or two fundamentals.” He admits he had to accelerate the learning process.

“With the age of the players here, I have concentrated on getting the pitchers to believe in themselves,’ he says. “Most players get it quickly. I just get them to focus on strikes. “

He points to the development of Tyrelle Chadwick, Hayden Walker and Christian Spitz as highlights. “ They improved and did a good job when they were out there.”

The pitching coach also credited the development of New Zealander MacLain Roberts as well. ‘Coming from a country where there isn’t much baseball. He has been able to handle himself when he got the chance.”

Bautista feels one of the biggest challenges for himself was to have the players focus on the ‘job ‘aspect of baseball rather than them focusing on the ‘social’ aspect of summer baseball.

He agrees with Francis that patience must be a strong suit during the trials and tribulations of this season. “I have to have patience—I have eight kids,” he laughs. Adding that his pitching staff become his surrogate children during the summer.

Baustista coached 22 seasons in professional baseball. He has experienced less than ideal seasons. “The difference is in the pros, you have a longer season so there is always hope to turn it around. Here, time is so short.”

Fernie Lorea is the third member of the NorthPaws coaching staff. Just a year removed from playing university baseball himself, he was an assistant coach at New Mexico State before coming to Kamloops. He believes the team has bought into ‘learn from all experiences’ philosophy. “You need to love to learn. You lose –you learn. You win—you learn. No matter what it is a learning experience.”

Lorea believes the biggest thing he will take away from the 2023 campaign is the be patient and see how everything plays out before you jump on things. He says it is easier said than done at times.

“What I have said to the players in the dugout is to put it (losses) behind you. This is a new set up, a new game, new everything. If there isn’t someone to say that to them (the players), they could lose hope. If that happens in baseball, you are just defeated”.

Lorea praised the leadership displayed by his former summer ball teammate Green. “Being able to see his leadership style, many of the guys took what he offered to heart.”

Lorea’s big takeaway from the year? “Just how everything was so hard this year. Not in a bad way but something I could grasp and learn from. “

Francis on what he has learned this year. “ What I have learned the most is how the roster should be put together. I have learned from the other teams on what it takes to succeed. The league is very competitive. “

Message for NorthPaws fans? “Hang in there. I think this has a real future here. It was a less than successful season but the fans have stuck with us. We will get the right players here next year and be successful.”

Bautista has a message for fans as well. “They have been very supportive. I hope they will continue to do that. We will be better and the results will be better moving forward.”

Francis and and Lorea will head to Pima Community College in Arizona at the conclusion of the West Coast League season. Bautista will return home to the Dominican Republic.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Pitching Coach Zach Swanson on baseball and Christianity

Published

9 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

In his first year as Pitching Coach of the HarbourCats, Zach Swanson (second from right), talks about how his baseball career, and those of who has coached, has been influenced by Christianity (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

June 15, 2026

By Norm Le Bus

Victoria, BC – In baseball parlance, there appears to be three interpretations of the verb “baptized.”

The old school meaning (Hey! I’m 66!) refers to brand new baseballs being rubbed up in the MLB Umpires’ room before games, removing the smooth, slippery gloss from brand-new balls by applying (I am not making this up) Blackburn’s Baseball Rubbing Mud.
This started in 1938 and continues today.

The second reference refers to the macho side of the game. When a pitcher throws an absolute ‘seed’ or a nasty breaking ball that causes the hitter to drastically swing and miss, sometimes falling over or losing composure in the batter’s box, he’s ‘baptized.’ Harkening back to a ‘baptism by fire,’ the hitter’s being initiated into a harsh reality of the game.

The third, and least common usage, is the conventional meaning: a symbolic act of obedience where a believer publicly declares their faith in Jesus Christ. It typically involves the use of water, signifying the washing away of sin and representing Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

To play devil’s advocate, it’s not unfair to ask: what’s baptism got to do with baseball? A ball diamond isn’t a dunk tank, swimming pool or a river.

Does it have anything to do with baseball?

Or everything?

Rookie HarbourCats pitching coach Zach Swanson takes a big exhale sitting on a worn, tan couch in the coach’s locker room. He’s either fielded this question before or thought deeply about the significance of Christianity in baseball.

“Probably closer to the ‘everything’ side,” he says, smiling. He sees the set-up and the purposeful ignorance in the question.

“To me, there are ways to go through this game that would be unhealthy…”

Zach starts again:

“A better way to put it is: We search as baseball players for an identity; whether we find that in a role – something that we have that we’re really good at, whether it’s a nasty slider, heater or you have a competitive edge that is better than anybody else. And I saw for myself in baseball that I had an identity as a pitcher, but it would rise and fall on some days.

“It wasn’t as stable of an identity as I thought it was.

“Getting baptized (in high school) and the profession of faith coming through that, and that becoming our identity is rooted in something stronger than can be shaken by a guy taking you 450 feet deep on a homerun. Those things on the field are fluid and will always be ever-changing.

“To me the identity that comes in Christ is so much more stable.”

At 26, Swanson is barely older than the HarbourCat players. He uses that to his advantage.

“I approach it as being more like a player and a big brother,” he says. “My style is more: I care about you a lot, and if I care, I know I will be able to get the best baseball out of you.”

One shining example of his two foci – big brother empathy and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) chapter founder – comes to Victoria this summer in Harbourcats rookie pitcher Hunter Daniels.

HarbourCats pitcher Hunter Daniels cites Swanson as a key reason for improvements in his game, and in helping deepen his faith in Christianity (Photo: Norm LeBus)

Swanson spent two seasons coaching Daniels at Skyline High School in Mesa before Daniels moved to Phoenix College for his rookie Junior College season last September.

Daniels immediately took a liking to Swanson’s style at Skyline. The two were both involved with FCA, as well.

“He was younger; it was easy to relate to him, and he was a really good friend,” Daniels tells me on his first day in Victoria. During his junior year of high school Daniels, a strong student, struggled with some academics and online course work.

Swanson’s help was easy to accept.

“He was always there for me whenever I had questions, whenever I was going through something, he was always like the first person to come help me, talk it out,” Hunter recalls. “He’d always give me a good message from experience and he’d always back it up with his experience with Christ and religion.

“I just really liked that; he was always there for me.”

Daniels grew up Christian, but says he never really understood it that well and wasn’t much interested until high school, when a coach (not Swanson) suggested he start attending church in Mesa. Things were proceeding nicely, then the challenges hit his junior year.
At that time, Daniels left the church, overwhelmed by challenges on the diamond and academically. Swanson recognized that; they talked, and a simple solution was posited by Zach: trust your life to Christ.

Serendipitously, a friend had been lightly pressing Daniels to return to the church. Moreover, Swanson had just baptized one of Daniels’ high school teammates. Zach suggested to Hunter that he would conduct the baptism. The die was cast.

“I trusted that guy,” Daniels says. “If he told me to do something, I’d do it without a doubt in my mind that it wasn’t going to benefit me. Where he came into my life and just brought me back into it (Christianity) tenfold to what I was involved before. I needed it there, and he was just there.”

It’s a full circle moment of Swanson’s philosophy in action.

Whether coaching pitchers like Daniels, or here Marcus Janovsky (left) and Pierce Stone (right), Swanson always strives to get the best out of his players (Photo: Norm Le Bus)

“I try and get the most of our guys day-to-day both on and off the field,” he says. “I saw that I didn’t get everything I wanted out of my career…so I have a hunger to get everything I can out of the players I coach.”

***

The HarbourCats are back in action this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as they take on the Redmond Dudes in a three-game set at Wilson’s Group Stadium. Tuesday is $12 Tuesday – the cheapest sports ticket in town – while Thursday is our second School Spirit Game with over 2,500 school kids expected to be in attendance. Tickets for all HarbourCats games, as always, are available on-line through our one and only ticketing partner Showpass at http://harbourcats.com/tickets.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Sunny Matinee Ends in 9-1 HarbourCats Win

Published

22 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

The sun was hot, and the bats were hotter, driving in nine runs this afternoon. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Victoria, B.C. – A beautiful Sunday afternoon saw the HarbourCats take home a series win, claiming a 9-1 victory over the Springfield Drifters.

Hudson Lance (Coastal Carolina) took the bump to kick this ballgame off, extending a warm welcome to the visiting lineup in the form of two straight strikeouts in the top of the first.

BOX SCORE

Springfield’s defence would not be so fortunate. David Krahn (UBC) stepped up to the plate for the HarbourCats and smashed a line drive over the fence for a leadoff home run, his second of the season. One inning down, and a 1-0 lead for the HarbourCats.

David Krahn (UBC) wasted no time getting on the board this afternoon with a leadoff round-tripper. (Photo by JPM Photography)

The Drifters tried time and again in the following innings in an attempt to retaliate, but Hudson Lance and the HarbourCats ticked the “strongly disagree” box. Lance was nigh impenetrable throughout his majority stake in the ballgame, only allowing a single hit in five innings and tying the HarbourCats season record with eight strikeouts.

David Krahn returned to his old tricks in the bottom of the fifth, driving in a run and scoring on a perfectly placed double from outfielder Tristan Buehring (Whitman). At the halfway point of the ballgame, the Cats now lead 4-0.

Daniel Tovar (Northern Kentucky) got the nod for the top of the sixth and conceded a run, but was otherwise able to maintain a HarbourCats lead. That run wouldn’t go unanswered, as catcher Jacob Silva (UTSA) bid sweet farewell to a hanging pitch, clearing the right field wall by a healthy margin and widening the Cats lead to 5-1. A wild pitch and a few walks didn’t do Springfield any favours, and two additional runs crossed the plate by the end of the inning to make it 7-1.

Jacob Silva (UTSA) crushed a looooooong homer in his return to Victoria. (Photo by JPM Photography)

The Cats turned the offence back up in the bottom of the eighth, scoring two more runs courtesy of Jacob Silva and Matt Westley (George Mason) to glide their way to a 9-1 win, and a series win to boot.

WCL STANDINGSC

HarbourCats action returns this week, as the Cats host the Redmond Dudes for a three-game midweek series from Tuesday to Thursday.

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 – Matt Westley is the Extra Innings Hero in Walk-Off Victory

Published

2 days ago

June 14, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Victoria, B.C. – The HarbourCats battled all night to claim a walk-off win in extra innings!

Victoria pitcher Jeremiah Arnett (Rice) made his mark immediately in his Saturday night start. The big Texan struck out three batters in the top of the first inning, an early warning to the Drifters that they would need their A-game to take him down.

BOX SCORE

Springfield was not deterred, however, scoring on an error in the bottom of the second for the first run of the ballgame. Arnett kept the visiting bats quiet otherwise in the second inning, adding two more K’s to his total.

The Cats created a juicy RBI opportunity by way of a couple singles and stolen bags in the bottom of the third. The heart of the lineup took advantage, cashing in two runs to take a narrow lead by the end of the inning.

Jeremiah Arnett (Rice University) put together a solid start with eight strikeouts. (Photo by Raphael Oliveira)

The offensive production continued as Rohne Klein (San Jose State) battled with two outs and drove a base hit to right field to keep the fourth inning alive for the Cats. Inspired by his comrade’s effort, local catcher Jai Berezowski (Victoria Collegiate) blasted a triple to widen the home team’s lead to 3-1.

Springfield answered back with two runs in the top of the fifth to end Jeremiah Arnett’s night. Arnett went 4.2 innings with eight strikeouts, walking three batters and allowing two earned runs. Davis Lee (Calgary) came in to cover for the starter, securing a huge strikeout in a messy situation to preserve a tie game.

Lee kept a clean slate across his two innings of work, giving way to Hunter Daniels (Phoenix) in the top of the eighth. Daniels surrendered a solo homer to give the Drifters the lead.

The HarbourCats came up big in a crucial eighth inning, loading the bases and getting the game-tying run across. This paved the way for extra innings, in which reliever Pierce Stone (Regis) came up huge with two strikeouts in the top of the tenth to keep the score tied. In the bottom of the tenth inning, with the bases loaded, Matt Westley (George Mason) stepped up to the plate and mashed a line drive to centre field for a HarbourCats walk-off win!

WCL STANDINGS

Catch the Cats back on the field tomorrow at 1:05 pm for the rubber match of the series.

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