Summer Collegiate
Victoria HarbourCats – Errors Prove Costly in Tide Loss to Fraser Valley
Story and Photos by Christian J. Stewart
October 9, 2021, Kelowna, BC – The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades took advantage of every mistake the Victoria Golden Tide made on Saturday morning to come away with a 4-1 win in the second game for both teams at the Canadian College Baseball Conference Fall Championship Tournament at Elks Field in Kelowna.
The Tide’s Brandon Green is all smiles after scoring what turned out to be Victoria’s only run in the second inning Saturday.
Of the Cascade’s four runs, all of them came as a result of Victoria errors, including two runs in the bottom of the first inning, following a two-out throwing error by third baseman Jordon Bond. The overthrow to first led to one direct run and then an RBI single by Dylan Merritt gave the Cascades an early 2-0 lead.
Tide starter Ethan Dean would not allow an earned run, but would get tagged with the tough loss in the game against the Cascades.
The Tide got one of those runs back in the second inning and had a chance for more, but left the bases loaded in both the first and second innings to let the Cascades off the hook.
The Cascades would get another run in the third inning, this time thanks in part to an error by Tide first baseman Brendan Morrison that kept the inning alive and eventually allowed the Cascade’s Ryan West, who had singled, to score.
Victoria’s Jaxson Cordle slides safely into third base, beating the throw to UFV third baseman Ty Crowe.
In the seventh inning, the Cascades got an insurance run when Josh Berenbaum walked and then stole second. The throw sailed into centre field to give Berenbaum third base and when the ball went under the glove of the Tide’s Tyler Burton, who was backing up the play, Berenbaum kept going to extend the lead to 4-1.
The Cascade’s Sasha Kamenjasevic was brilliant in relief against the Tide, throwing five innings of scoreless relief and getting credit for the 4-1 win.
The Cascades were helped in their win by an impressive relief appearance from Sasha Kamenjasevic, who took over from starter Carter Harbut with two outs and the bases loaded in the second.
Kamenjasevic proceeded to strike out Tide slugger Zeke Holt to end that threat and then put up goose eggs for the next five innings, before being replaced by closer Evan Petersen who struck out five of the six batters he faced to close out the 4-1 win.
The Tide’s Brandon Green twists a double play, one of two the Tide turned on the day.
The Victoria errors overshadowed a decent outing from Victoria starter Ethan Dean who went four full innings, giving up four hits – the Cascade’s only four hits of the day – and two walks and was tagged with the tough loss, despite not giving up an earned run.
Tide pitcher Haldon Craig delivers a pitch against Fraser Valley on Saturday.
Nate Horricks and Haldon Craig were also effective in relief throwing a pair of innings each, striking out six combined in those four innings of work.
For the Tide offensively, they only mustered two hits on the day from Burton and Alex MacLauchlan, with a large part of their offensive threat coming from six hit batters and four walks surrendered by Cascade pitchers.
With a group of Cascade’e eagerly watching, Tide catcher Ryan Whelan awaits a throw to the plate during action in Saturday’s 4-1 UFV win.
With the win, the Cascades improve their record to 2-0 and they can guarantee their spot in the semis with a win over Calgary in their final round robin game at 12:15 pm on Sunday.
For the Tide, the math is simple. A win over Thompson Rivers in the final round robin game Sunday morning at 9:15 am should mean a trip to the semi-finals later that day. A loss and they will be relegated to one of the consolation games on Monday morning.
The Cascade outfielders celebrate their 4-1 win over Victoria on Saturday.
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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