Hayden Woodson (USC) and many others crossed the plate for the Cats tonight. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Victoria, B.C. – The home team put on a show tonight in a decisive 17-7 defeat of the Redmond Dudes.

The HarbourCats were thankful for the invention of the batting helmet in the first inning. After loading the bases with one out in the opening frame, Redmond pitching walked two batters and plunked three in a row, inviting a parade of runners across the plate. The Cats were more than happy to trade ice packs for runs, taking an early 5-0 lead.

BOX SCORE

Cats starter Asher Clark (Northern Colorado) looked much more controlled, but a line drive to right field drove in Redmond’s first run in the top of the second inning.

It was a full team effort tonight to take away the win. (Photo by JPM Photography)

The onslaught continued for the HarbourCats in their second wave at the plate. A couple of bases loaded walks and singles from Carter Eberhard (Cal Baptist) and Logan Shepherd (Mercer) vaulted the score to 11-1 by the time the dust settled on the second inning.

Redmond fought back once again in the very next inning on the watch of Tate Collins (Arkansas State). The Dudes wrangled two more runs by way of a double off the wall to right field, but still found themselves on the wrong end of an 11-3 ballgame.

The Dudes continued to chip away throughout the middle innings, but were fended off by Collins and Marcus Janovsky (UBC) for the most part. Janovsky in particular put on a reliable performance this evening, striking out three Dudes and giving up one hit in just under two innings of work.

Marcus Janovsky had one of his best outings of the season, tallying three strikeouts. (Photo by JPM Photography)

A seemingly routine single by Logan Shepherd turned into trouble for the Dudes when aggressive baserunning and an errant throw combined. Jax Heid blazed his way around to third base and managed to dash home, scoring lucky number 13 for the Cats.

Flynn Warren (Hawaii Pacific) was tapped in to pitch the seventh and eighth innings, conceding a couple of runs before handing the ball off to Anson Stuckly (Texas A&M Corpus Christi). Stuckly closed it out with a smooth ninth inning and the HarbourCats vacated the field with a 17-7 win.

WCL STANDINGS

The Cats and Dudes do battle twice more this week, once on Wednesday night at 6:35 pm and again on Thursday at 11:05 am for School Spirit Day!

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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Victoria baseball and softball organizations combine with HarbourCats and WCL to host largest baseball camp in city’s history. (Photo by Christian J Stewart)

Victoria, B.C. – Baseball is HOT right now in these parts, thanks to an unforgettable World Series run by the Toronto Blue Jays and record success for Canada at the World Baseball Classic, not to mention the amazing Canadian Little League tournament hosted by Layritz last July.

It’s also hot around here because of the continued success of the Victoria HarbourCats in the market, along with record registration numbers with many local organizations for this spring and summer.

Hosting the 2026 Showpass West Coast League All-Star Game Festival at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park gives all local baseball and softball organizations a chance to bond together and take that excitement to the next level with the largest baseball camp in the history of the city planned for parks in the area.

On Wednesday, July 15, from 9 am to noon, baseball organizations around South Vancouver Island will be hosting concurrent camps, just hours before the best of the West Coast League take to the field in the All-Star Game.

“This is a perfect opportunity to bring everyone to the fields, at the same time, and show the spirit of community and power of sport through the strong numbers involved in local baseball — and provide a development opportunity for young players,” said co-chair Dave Cockle, helping lead the youth baseball camps component for the WCL All-Star Game organizing committee. “The goal is to be fully inclusive, affordable, and have all of us in the baseball sphere working together. We think everyone will get behind this, and most already have.”

HarbourCats players and coaches will spread out to the various camp sites around the South Vancouver Island area — the usual Sooke-to-Sidney descriptive for blanket coverage. All ages can register through their catchment organization (see below).

Partnerships are in place to provide each camper a t-shirt, thanks to Victoria author, historian, and philanthropist Helen Edwards, and support also coming through A&W, and the guidance of the hard-working leadership of the provincial sport organization, Baseball BC. It is hoped all Little League, BC Minor and Softball BC organizations will take part in this meaningful and symbolic camps coalition.

The cost per camper will be $40, with all those proceeds staying with the host baseball/softball organization.

Organizations that have jumped on with excitement:

With more associations joining soon!

For more updates, be sure to follow @HarbourCats on all social channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) or visit https://harbourcats.com/wcl/

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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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