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Summer Collegiate

Northpaws Joey Rico Named To ALL STAR TEAM

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Tuesday morning, West Coast League Commissioner Rob Neyer revealed the all-star selections for the 2024 All-Star Game. Marking the return of the WCL’s mid-summer classic for the first time since 2019, the game is scheduled for Wednesday, July 17, with the first pitch at 6:35 p.m. Pacific Time at the legendary Joe Martin Field.

After a long hiatus, we’re thrilled to bring back the All-Star Game and celebrate the incredible talent in our league,” said WCL Commissioner Rob Neyer. “It’s already apparent that the Bells will present a tremendous event for our fans, our players, and for the many thousands watching the game around the world.”

Hosted by the Bellingham Bells, this event promises to be a two-day extravaganza beginning on July 16. The evening before the All-Star Game will feature players from the Max Higbee Center alongside WCL All-Stars in the Community Champions Game, an integrated baseball game to benefit the Max Higbee Center. The Max Higbee Center supports and empowers teens and adults with developmental disabilities to build community, friendships, happiness, life skills and health through recreation. Half of ticket sales from the evening will go directly to the Max Higbee Center.

Bellingham Head Coach Bob Ralston will guide the North Division squad, while the South will be led by Corvallis Knights skipper Brooke Knight. The North Division consists of the Bells, Edmonton Riverhawks, Kamloops NorthPaws, Kelowna Falcons, Nanaimo NightOwls, Port Angeles Lefties, Wenatchee AppleSox, and Victoria HarbourCats, with every team represented on the roster by at least one standout player. In the South, the Bend Elks, Corvallis Knights, Cowlitz Black Bears, Portland Pickles, Ridgefield Raptors, Springfield Drifters, Walla Walla Sweets, and Yakima Valley Pippins are all sending players to Bellingham for the All-Star Game.

Tickets for the WCL All-Star Game may be purchased here, but for those not able to attend, the WCL has exciting news later this week about the broadcast. Stay tuned!

NORTH
C – Conner Smith of Santa Clara (Bellingham Bells)
C – Jonathan Fitz of San Diego (Wenatchee AppleSox)
1B – Jacob Mejia of Cal State San Bernadino (Bellingham Bells)
1B – Jeremy Giesegh of Cal State San Bernadino (Port Angeles Lefties)
2B – Michael Soper of Westmont College (Edmonton Riverhawks)
SS – Roman Martin of UCLA (Bellingham Bells)
SS – Nevin Noonan of San Diego State (Nanaimo NightOwls)
3B – Nate Kirkpatrick of Yavapai College (Bellingham Bells)
3B – Jakob Poturnak of Sacramento State (Edmonton Riverhawks)
OF – Bryce McFeely of Westmont College (Edmonton Riverhawks)
OF/P – Joey Rico of Westmont (Kamloops NorthPaws)
OF – Trey Duffield of Rice (Kelowna Falcons)
OF – Riley Paulino of Pikeville (Nanaimo NightOwls)
OF – Wylie Waters of USC Upstate (Nanaimo NightOwls)
OF/2B – Tate Shimao of Hawaii (Victoria HarbourCats)
OF – Max Hartman of Washington State (Wenatchee AppleSox)
P – Josh Flaugher of Texas A&M Corpus Christi (Bellingham Bells)
P – Tyler Van Dyke of Stetson (Bellingham Bells)
P – Tate Dearing of Reinhardt (Edmonton Riverhawks)
P – Vicarte Domingo of British Columbia (Edmonton Riverhawks)
P/OF – Gavyn Jones of McLennan CC (Kelowna Falcons)
P – Adison Mattix of Everett CC (Nanaimo NightOwls)
P – Carson Cormier of TCU (Victoria HarbourCats)
P – Evan Canfield of Lewis-Clark State (Wenatchee AppleSox)
P – Quincy Vassar of Vanguard (Wenatchee AppleSox)

SOUTH
C – Luke Iverson of Utah Valley (Ridgefield Raptors)
C – Dane Woodcook of New Mexico State (Springfield Drifters)
1B – Easton Amundson of Liberty (Bend Elks)
1B/3B – Patrick Keighran of San Francisco (Portland Pickles)
2B – Spencer Shipman of Whitworth (Yakima Valley Pippins)
SS/2B – Ty Yukumoto of Pacific (Corvallis Knights)
SS/OF – Blake Wilson of Washington (Corvallis Knights)
3B – Kedren Kinzie of Hawaii (Springfield Drifters)
3B/OF – Preston Allen – uncommitted (Yakima Valley Pippins)
OF – Brandon Cabrera of Lewis-Clark State (Corvallis Knights)
OF – Dylan Schlaegel of Dallas Baptist (Cowlitz Black Bears)
OF – Tanner Griffith of Saint Mary’s (Portland Pickles)
OF – Kolby Felix of Colorado Mesa (Walla Walla Sweets)
OF – Davis Mauzy of Wichita State (Walla Walla Sweets)
UTL – Kevin Takeuchi of USC (Corvallis Knights)
P – Mason Edwards of USC (Bend Elks)
P – Jackson Elder of Utah (Bend Elks)
P – Tyler Wood of UC Davis (Bend Elks)
P – James DeCremer of Oregon State (Corvallis Knights)
P – Tyner Horn of Nebraska (Corvallis Knights)
P – Kaden Segel of Portland (Corvallis Knights)
P – Freddie Rodriguez of Hawaii (Portland Pickles)
P – Shay Timmer of Salt Lake CC (Portland Pickles)
P – Dylan Stewart of Pepperdine (Ridgefield Raptors)
P – Liam Hohenstein of Colorado Mesa (Walla Walla Sweets)

Universities and colleges noted are where players will be enrolled this upcoming school year.

About the West Coast League: The West Coast League is the West’s premier summer collegiate baseball league. Encompassing Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and now Alberta, the WCL showcases pro prospects from major collegiate conferences around the nation. Every summer, the league features unparalleled fan and player experiences, with North America’s best baseball weather and a mix of classic and state-of-the-art ballparks, all backdropped by dramatic scenery.

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Summer Collegiate

NightOwls get the call for International Events

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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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Nanaimo Boy Returns Home To Lead The NightOwls

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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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Frady steps down as NightOwls Head Coach

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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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