Summer Collegiate
Oregon State Duo Joins NorthPaws with Eyes on College World Series
The Kamloops NorthPaws is looking to an NCAA program with a rich history of success to continue building the inaugural roster.
Oregon State University’s sophomore outfielder Wade Meckler and freshman utility player Brady Kasper have signed with the NorthPaws for 2021.
“We’re fortunate to have guys from a program like Oregon State. We want to create a winning culture in Kamloops and it starts with bringing in players who know how to win,” said head coach Cole Armstrong.
The team’s history of success was a key factor in both players’ commitments to Oregon State.
“When I committed, they were just coming off I think the highest win total in Pac-12 history. They went 27-3 in the Pac-12 and the year I committed here they won a national championship, so it was one of the best overall programs in the country,” Meckler said. “That’s the goal, to get to Omaha and win the whole thing.”
“When I was younger, I would watch them on tv with my dad because they were in the College World Series or Super Regionals almost every year. I just remember watching them all the time and thinking I want to go there,” Kasper said.
Wade Meckler | Photo Credit: OSU Athletics
Meckler, from Yorba Linda, Calif., was slated to play in the West Coast League with Corvallis in 2020 before the season was cancelled and is excited about another opportunity to play in the league.
“I wanted to stay on the West Coast. My coaches believe that the West Coast League is one of the best leagues competition wise in the country, so they wanted me to stay out here,” Meckler said. “I think the West Coast League is surpassing a lot of these other leagues that are historically known as the best leagues. I really think this is the biggest up and coming league in the country.”
For his 2021 collegiate season, Meckler said he wants to reach 80 hits and have good plate discipline, earning walks for at least 10 per cent of his at bats.
“I feel like if I do both of those things, I’m putting myself in a good position to be one of the best leadoff hitters in the country,” he said.
“If I had to use one phrase to use the way I play, its ‘high-octane.’ It’s full-go, it’s high-intensity, it might cause some scraps with the other team but at the end of the day I’m an extremely competitive person and it shows in the way I play, everything is 100 per cent.”
“He’s a veteran presence who will provide experience and leadership to go with a top of the order bat,” Armstrong said of the outfielder.
Kasper, from Mission Viejo, Calif., will get his first taste of summer collegiate baseball in Kamloops after the pandemic impacted his senior high school season.
Brady Kasper | Photo Credit: OSU Athletics
“Kamloops, I saw pictures of it and it just looks awesome. I saw the golf courses and the rivers for fishing, the town looks awesome, the field looks awesome and I didn’t need to look anywhere else. That looks like somewhere I want to be for the summer,” Kasper said.
Kasper is slated as a player who can slide into multiple positions and provide some versatility to the NorthPaws lineup.
“He’s a loud, left-handed bat who could provide a presence in the middle of our batting order,” Armstrong said of the freshman.
Before they can turn their focus on Kamloops, Meckler and Kasper are set on proving the pundits wrong. Oregon State was ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in preseason polls.
“I think we’re going to be a threat this year. We’ve been ranked a little lower in the polls than we think we should’ve been and I think we’re going to prove a lot of people wrong this year,” Meckler said.
“I feel like we just need to take it game by game and prove everyone wrong. I don’t think rankings matter very much to us, it is just a little bit more fuel to the fire just because they did rank us so low,” Kasper echoed. “It pissed some guys off, so we’re going to come out strong and we’re going to come out ready to win.”
Oregon State is off to a strong start to the 2021 season with a 4-1 record through the first week of the season. Meckler and Kasper are locked in a four-game series this weekend against their future NorthPaws teammates, including week one NCAA hits leader Ryland Zaborowski, with Grand Canyon University.
The Kamloops NorthPaws are an expansion West Coast League franchise bringing the highest calibre baseball Canada’s Tournament Capital has ever seen. The West Coast League, founded in 2005, has 15 teams across Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alberta featuring some of the top collegiate players during a 54-game summer season. Find the NorthPaws online at www.northpawsbaseball.ca, @northpawsbaseball on Instagram and Facebook, or @northpawsbb on Twitter.
Alan Choo has seen a lot of home runs in his life — hundreds from his father, and now a healthy number off his own bat in college.
The son of former MLB all-star outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, a Korean product who hit 218 long balls in his 16-season career, Alan himself has now established himself as a power hitter in the college ranks.
Choo, currently at Orange Coast College, is tied for third in home runs in the CCCAA with nine, including two in a game on Tuesday. He is a legitimate draft prospect for this coming July!!
“I’m so pumped to play for the NightOwls,” said Alan Choo, who turns 21 at the end of this week. “I’ve only heard great things about the organization and coaching staff and the players’ futures that go through the NightOwls. I’m super excited for the summer!”
Choo, a lefty hitter who plays first base and DH, is close friends with returning catcher Clark Springs, who is in D1 baseball at UT-Arlington. Choo, who was born in Phoenix Arizona, is a sophomore and checks in at 6’1” and 225 lbs.
“This is a big signing for us, adding a feared lefty power bat to hit in the middle of the order with returning all-stars Jacob Hayes and Talan Zenk,” said Head Coach Cody Andreychuk. “We will have big bats and depth on our roster, and we think Alan will be a leader for us so we can bring a championship to Nanaimo.”
Choo the senior was an outstanding Major League hitter, starting his big league time as a Seattle Mariner in 2005, then moving on to Cleveland, Cincinnati and Texas, where he played his final season in 2020. He received MVP votes in 2010 and 2013 and went to the all-star game in 2018, representing the Rangers. In seven of his seasons, he hit 20 or more home runs. He also stole 157 bases in his career, with three 20-20 seasons.
Shin-Soo Choo is still involved in the game after retirement, now as a scout.
Pitcher Hudson Lance is a strong believer in faith, and it is that faith that will guide him in his return to the HarbourCats in 2026 (Photo: Christian J. Stewart).
By Norm LeBus
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2026
Victoria, BC – As a devout Christian and a business student, athlete and leadership intern at Coastal Carolina University, Hudson Lance already walks the road less travelled.
And now his path is even more remote.
A middle-inning reliever last summer with the ‘Cats, Lance has walked away from Division One baseball this season to follow the Lord.
Returning to Coastal Carolina in fall of ’25, Lance was informed he was surplus as the Chanticleers’ roster swelled with talent after last season’s appearance in the College Baseball World Series.
Lance hit the transfer portal and relocated to D1 mid-major Winthrop, also in South Carolina. But two weeks before his arrival, Lance changed his mind. It was August 1.
“I shocked my entire world,” Lance says. “Everyone who knew me thought I was crazy. But I have not regretted it for a second.”
Photo: Christian J. Stewart
Lance went from D1 scholarship student athlete to Christian, club baseball player, business student and leadership intern at…Coastal Carolina. He never left the school that rejected him after initially recruiting Lance to play baseball.
“I just never had peace with the decision to go to Winthrop,” he says. “My faith is really a giant part of my life, and I really felt like the Lord was calling me to step away from baseball. I absolutely love Coastal Carolina – the friends I’ve made there, the community I have.”
At Carolina this year, Lance is running long distance to build stamina, bullpen training and pitching live at-bats with the schools’ club baseball team. But he’s just as excited about his internship with FCA, Fellowship for Christian Athletes – a major time commitment for the business major.
“It’s really just something the Lord has put on my heart and I’m really passionate about,” Lance says. “It is time consuming, but to me it doesn’t feel like work, or something that’s this great burden because it’s something that I love.”
But Lance is returning to the WCL without a season of Division One baseball – an anomaly in the Pacific Northwest circuit.
“When I get to Victoria, it won’t be like I haven’t faced a batter in several months,” he says of the pitching he will be doing at Coastal Carolina with its club team. “I will just have faced hundreds of batters training throughout the entire spring.”
Last season in Victoria, Lance was a middle reliever who had a solid rookie season – one bad outing ballooned his ERA, but the ‘Cats won five of the seven games he appeared in.
Photo: Christian J. Stewart
“He was a good, reliable middle inning guy for us, came in in situations and got batters out when we needed it, a reasonable number of strikeouts, ‘Cats GM Christian Stewart recalls. “More importantly, he only walked three guys – that’s a big plus in this league.”
In bullpen work with the club team this spring, Lance says he’s working on direction, speed and location in bullpen training. Then there’s the live at bats.
“My plan is to hit the ground running and be ready to roll when I hit Victoria,” he explains.
It’s far from the first time a player has arrived in Victoria in May without recent D1 experience.
“The fact that he’s a player without a home right now is kind of interesting – there’s no stats to look at and see how he’s doing, so whether that’s a plus or a minus, hard to say,” Stewart says. “Hopefully we can he’s working hard and ready to show somebody what he can do.”
That seems a safe bet.
—
Hudson Lance and the HarbourCats begin the 2026 West Coast League season on the road in Portland on Friday, May 29th and then return to Wilson’s Group Stadium for the Home Opener against the Edmonton Riverhawks on Tuesday, June 2 at 6:30 pm.
Tickets for that game and all 2026 HarbourCats games, as well as the 2026 All-Star Game and Home Run Derby July 14-15, Season Tickets and Flex-Packs are now on sale at harbourcats.com/tickets or at the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street just around the corner from the stadium.
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