Summer Collegiate

NorthPaws take two of three from defending league champs

Published

3 years ago

June 12, 2023

Dugout Wire Service

Author: Larry Read

KAMLOOPS BC—It was a noteworthy weekend for the Kamloops NorthPaws.

The NorthPaws finally got into the win column in the West Coast Baseball League. It took them six games to do it, but the North Paws won a game. They did it against the six-time league champion Corvallis Knights. Friday night (June 9), the Paws shutout the Knights 1-0.

They then did something they have done only twice before since entering the league: that was play a doubleheader. After being rained out Saturday (June 10), the Paws and Corvallis played a ‘double dip’ on Sunday (June 11) playing a pair of seven inning affairs.

The first game saw a brilliant pitching performance from Hayden Walker propel Kamloops to a 2-0 victory. The night cap saw the Knights shutout Kamloops 9-0 as they hammered out 15 hits and scored six runs in the sixth inning.

Kamloops moves to 2-7 on the year while Corvallis is 6-3.

The NorthPaws hit the road now for three games in Edmonton against the Riverhawks. The set begins June 13th at ReMax field. The Knights are off until June 15th when they begin a nine game homestand with a trio of contests against the Bend Elks. Three of those home games will be against the NorthPaws. They will hook up beginning June 24th.

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

DOUBLEHEADER HISTORY:

The Paws played two doubleheaders in their inaugural West Coast League season. All of them were on Dearborn Ford Field at Norbrock Stadium. June 2, 2022, Kamloops swept the Edmonton RiverHawks 8-7 and 4-3. On July 23, 2022, they split with the Nanaimo Night Owls. They lost the opener 8-0 but won the nightcap 8-7.

SERIES RECAP:

Friday, June 9, 2023-Kamloops NorthPaws 1 Corvallis Knights 0

526 people were on hand to see the NorthPaws notch their first win of the young season. All the scoring was done in the first inning. Tommy Green (Courtenay, BC) singled to start the inning. He scored on an RBI triple off the bat of third baseman Drew Giannini (Tracy, CA). Giannini was one for three at the plate. Green was one for four.

Griffin Almond (Thornbury, ON) made his second start of the year and went six innings for the win. Almond surrendered two hits, walked one and struck out three. Kolby Lukinchuk (Prince George, BC) earned the save in one inning of work. He was the fourth pitcher of the game for Kamloops.

Lefty Merit Jones (Idaho Falls, ID) struck out eight and had two walks in five innings of work. He was the losing pitcher. Tyler Quinn (Mililani, HIJ), Tyler Howard (Vancouver, WA) and Ty Yukumoto (Waipahu, HI) were all one for four at the dish for the Knights. They fell to 5-2 on the year with the setback.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598108

Sunday, June 11, 2023-Game 1-Kamloops NorthPaws 2 Corvallis Knights 0

The first game of the doubleheader saw a brilliant pitching performance from lefthander Hayden Walker (Corrales, NM). Walker, who transferred to New Mexico State this year after two seasons at Pepperdine threw 90 pitches over six innings. He had seven strikeouts, gave up four hits and walked one for his first victory of the year. Noah Louw (Chelon, WA) came on in the seventh to earn the save as he struck out three.

The Knights were threatening in the top of the seventh with two men on before Louw struck out the side.

Both Kamloops runs were scored in the fifth inning. Catcher Joey Adge (Parker, CO) walked and scored on a wild pitch delivered by Knights losing pitcher Neil Feist (Torrance, CA). The other Kamloops run was scored by Landon Clark who was hit by a pitch and plated on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Drew Giannini.

Stanley Schoppe (Tigard, OE) and Johnathan Stone (Roseberg, OE) were both one for three.

Kamloops had only one hit in the ball game. That came from Tommy Green (Courtenay, BC). He singled in the third inning.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=601168

Sunday, June 11, 2023-Game 2-Corvallis Knights 9 Kamloops NorthPaws 0

The Knights had a 3-0 lead until the sixth inning when they scored six runs on five hits. Corvallis was led offensively by right fielder Sam Stern (Erie, CO) who was four for five with an RBI and two runs scored. Third baseman Tyler Quinn (Mililani, HI) who was two for five with two runs scored. Catcher Tyler Howard (Vancouver, WA) was three for four with three RBI. JC Ing (Foster City, OE) was one for three with two runs batted in and a run scored.

Ethan Collins (Rossmoor, CA) went three innings for the win. He gave up one hit, struck out four and walked three. Wyatt Hardy (Parker, CO) went the first two and two thirds’ innings and was tagged with the loss. He gave up three runs on seven hits, with two strikeouts and two walks.

Catcher Joey Aldge was the only NorthPaw to garner a hit. The Parker Colorado backstop is hitting .350 for the season.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598110

NORTH AWS HEAD COACH KEITH FRANCIS:

“If you would have told me Thursday night that ‘Hey Keith..you were only going to get five hits this weekend total between three games but you were going to win two out of three, I would have said you were out of your mind. It was impossible. But that was the case. Our pitching was outstanding the first two nights. It struggled a bit today in the third game. We have some issues at the plate which we have to get worked out. I don’t have a magical answer. We have to start hitting the ball. We can’t win games with five hits over a weekend.”

On pulling Hayden Walker in game two after six innings (of a seven-inning contest):

“ There was some thought of having him pitch a complete game. But when I asked how many pitches he threw and found it was 91, he was done for the day. He has a career ahead of him and this is a long season. It was a short-lived consideration.”

NORTHPAWS PITCHER HAYDEN WALKER:

“It was a good performance by the team all around (when asked about the win in game two). I got the win which was nice. Joey Adge did a great job behind the plate for me getting some throw downs. Today my fastball and changeup were going well. I was able to locate the fastball on both sides of the plate which helped a ton.”

On chemistry with a new catcher:

“It hard to build a relationship super quick. I think we both know we can trust each other with whatever we need to do on the field. It helps us out a lot.

NORTHPAWS CATCHER JOEY ADGE:

“It was a pretty good weekend getting two victories. I thought we could have got more hits but I thought our pitching was great which helped us out a lot.”

On Hayden Walker’s six inning victory in game two:

“He had great command of his three pitches. He pitched with a lot of confidence and was a pleasure to catch.

NEXT UP FOR THE NORTHPAWS:

The NorthPaws and Edmonton Riverhawks will square off at ReMax Field in Edmonton starting Tuesday June 13th. In 2022, These teams met four times with Kamloops sweeping a series at home in early June (8-7,4-3,1-0). The Riverhawks beat the NorthPaws when the teams met in Edmonton. The score was 12-3 on July 26th.

Their next home series will be Friday June 16 th when the Port Angeles Lefties will venture onto Dearborn Field at Norbrock Stadium. Kamloops took four of six games against the Lefties last year including 6-5 and 7-4 at home. They were played June 24-25, 2022.

PLAYERS TO WATCH ON THE RIVERHAWKS:

Tom Poole – 1B/3B – Dallas Baptist University, not quite with the team as DBU made a push at regionals

KJ Ward – RHP – Park University Gilbert

Jonny McGill – OF – University of British Columbia

Jack Wheatley – MIF – Liberty University

Kelly Corl – MIF – Niagara University.

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 hoppin’ 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.

For “Everything NorthPaws-Go to the website : https://www.northpawsbaseball.ca/ “

Kamloops North Paws tickets: ticketing@northpawsbaseball.ca

West Coast League: westcoastleague.com.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Cats Defeated by AppleSox in Game Three

Published

21 hours ago

July 19, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

The HarbourCats have been kept quiet in two straight games after a powerful offensive showing in game one. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Victoria, B.C. – In a winner-take-all matchup against the Wenatchee AppleSox, Victoria’s bats came up short, falling 3-1 to the visiting AppleSox and losing the series.

The AppleSox claimed the first advantage in game three of this head-to-head series, rocking a rare double off of Erik Rico (Fresno State) and cashing in the run for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

BOX SCORE

It wasn’t until the top of the fifth when Wenatchee would add on, smashing a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the fifth. That bomb ended the outing for Rico, who gave up three runs today on five hits and notched nine strikeouts. Leif Friedrich (Concordia-Nebraska) took his place and finished off the inning

The HarbourCats finally got themselves on the board in the bottom of the eighth, with a costly Wenatchee error allowing Lukas Le Gras (Westmont) to score from second. Michael Rodda (Palomar) got on base due to the error, but ended up being stranded by a popup to end the inning.

Davis Lee hit the ground running to retire the side in the top of the ninth. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Friedrich ended up going a solid 3.1 innings, allowing just two baserunners and striking out three. He was swapped out for Davis Lee (Calgary) prior to the top of the ninth, and Lee worked quickly and carefully to retire the side and get two strikeouts of his own.

The HarbourCats offence struggled tonight, coming up with only one run. Logan Shepherd (Mercer) and Declan Brown (Ottawa University) both walked in the bottom of the ninth to get the tying run on base, but Victoria was unable to capitalize with runners on and eventually dropped the rubber match of the series 3-1.

WCL STANDINGS

After an off-day tomorrow, the Cats will head up island to Nanaimo for a three-game weekday series before returning home for the weekend.

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.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – AppleSox Surge Back Late to Tie Series

Published

1 day ago

July 19, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

The Cats got off to a hot start but fell behind in the late stages of the game. (Photo by Christian J. Stewart)

Victoria, B.C – The second game of this head-to-head series swung the other way, with Wenatchee taking a 7-2 victory over the HarbourCats.

BOX SCORE

It was home run derby champion Logan Shepherd that got things started tonight! The Mercer University infielder yanked a smooth line drive to the pull side to cash in Bryan Bradshaw (UCSD) from second and claim a 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning.

Both sides’ bats fell silent until the home half of the fourth, which Rohne Klein (San Jose State) led off. Klein only needed to see one pitch before absolutely detonating a fastball and sending it far, far over the opposite field wall at an unofficially measured distance of about a million feet.

Quincey Brown (UCSD) exited the game after an absolute gem of a start. The Seattle-born freshman went five innings without giving up a run, and refused to even allow a single baserunner over the last four. Daniel Tovar (Northern Kentucky) took over for him in the sixth, and his first inning of work went off without a hitch as the AppleSox were felled in order.

Quincey Brown added another exquisite start to his 2026 resume. (Photo by Christian J. Stewart)

Tovar’s next frame wasn’t so quick and easy. The AppleSox found the right pitch and blasted it over the fence for a solo shot, cutting the Cats’ lead in half in the top of the seventh. The predicament grew when a few consecutive singles loaded the bases and two more runs scored on an error and a balk. When the dust settled on a chaotic seventh inning, Wenatchee found themselves up by one.

Carson Ackermann (Tacoma) was chosen to toe the slab in the eighth inning, and he let up a sacrifice fly that put the AppleSox up by two with one inning left to go. The right-hander returned for the ninth and Wenatchee got to him once again, bashing a two-run triple for a 7-2 lead.

Rohne Klein flexed his power with an oppo homer in the fourth. (Photo by Christian J. Stewart)

Try as they might, the HarbourCats could not recover from the AppleSox’ late-game onslaught, dropping the middle game of the three-game set by a score of 7-2.

WCL STANDINGS

The decider between Victoria and Wenatchee takes place tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 pm.

Source

Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – HarbourCats Beat AppleSox on Harvey’s Birthday

Published

3 days ago

July 18, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Victoria, B.C. – The HarbourCats took on the division-leading Wenatchee AppleSox for the first time this season, walking away with a 9-7 win to open up the series.

If one thing was evident in the early stages of tonight’s ballgame, it’s that Jeremiah Arnett (Rice) had his best stuff. Fresh off of an All-Star Game appearance, Arnett racked up six strikeouts in his first two innings! The AppleSox would finally solve the Cats starter in the third inning, however, smashing a solo homer to take the lead. Wenatchee followed up with a double and a single before the end of the inning to extend their new lead to 2-0.

BOX SCORE

Victoria retaliated in a big way in the home half of the third. It all started with Dryden Fuoco (Hill College) reaching first base on a dropped third strike. After that, two singles loaded the bases with nobody out for the red-hot Bryan Bradshaw (UCSD), who pummelled a double down the left field line to bring in two runs and tie the game. Jacob Silva (UTSA) got his piece of the pie soon after, scorching a single through the infield and snatching a two-run lead.

It wasn’t long before the HarbourCats crossed the plate again. With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the fourth, a pitch in the dirt got away from the Wenatchee catcher and ended up allowing two runs to come home when the throw to the plate went awry. A Kwakrifice play from Riley Kwak (Bossier Parish) provided a cherry on top, and Victoria left behind the fourth inning with a comfortable 7-2 lead.

Designated hitter Logan Shepherd (Mercer) singled to leadoff the bottom of the fifth, and the AppleSox did the rest of the work for him. Three wild pitches in the inning gave Shepherd room to advance to second, third, and finally home to push that lead even further.

Arnett took his leave after five innings in which he gave up two runs on six hits, striking out an impressive nine batters along the ride. In his place appeared Spencer Kratt of San Jose State. Kratt let a couple of runners on but made up for it when a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play brought a swift end to the inning.

Kratt vacated the mound after allowing two runs on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, and Taylor Franklin (George Fox) was tagged in as his replacement. Franklin buckled down and fulfilled his duty, punching out a batter to finish off the inning. The Cats returned fire in the home half of the eighth inning on a Michael Rodda (Palomar) single to set up a bigger buffer for the top of the ninth, Wenatchee’s last shot.

Victoria found themselves in some trouble in the ninth, with Flynn Warren (Hawaii Pacific) letting up three runs. His replacement, Anson Stuckly (Texas A&M Corpus Christi), was able to clutch up and put the finishing touches on a 9-7 victory over the AppleSox.

WCL STANDINGS

With the upper hand in the series, the Cats have a series win in their sights when they take in Wenatchee again on Saturday night at 6:35 pm.

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