Summer Collegiate
Victoria HarbourCats – HarbourCats pour on the runs in fifth straight win
Michelle Artzberger has 22 RBIs in 20 games (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)
July 27, 2024
For immediate release
VICTORIA, B.C. – The Victoria HarbourCats hit double digits for the second straight night to beat the Kamloops NorthPaws 15-3.
After their slow start in yesterday’s game, going hitless until the sixth inning, the Cats wasted no time tonight scoring three runs in the first inning. Michelle Artzberger (ULM) got things going with a sacrifice fly before Kamana Nahaku (Hawaii) hit a 107 MPH rocket to left field for a double making it 2-0. Sky Collins (Fresno State) capped off the three-run frame with an RBI single, his first of four hits on the night.
Payton Hawkinson (Cal State Fullerton) started his sixth game of the season and bounced back after three straight losing efforts. The six-foot-seven left-hander struck out a season-high five batters over four innings while giving up one run.
Gunner Antillon had a season-high three hits (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)
Victoria piled on the runs in the third inning beginning with a Tyrus Hall (Bossier Parish) RBI single which extended his hit streak to eight games. The Victoria native reached base four times in the game, including two doubles. A bases-loaded hit-by-pitch increased the Cats advantage before a NorthPaws error allowed two more runs to score, giving Victoria a 7-1 lead. Michael Crossland (UC San Diego) hit a two-run double, his 14th and 15th RBIs of the season, to make it 9-1.
A passed ball and wild pitch gifted the HarbourCats a couple more runs in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 11-1, putting the game beyond doubt early.
Victoria scored four runs in the sixth inning including an Artzberger bases-clearing double which wrapped up the scoring making it 15-3. The first baseman has two or more hits in six straight games and has 10 RBIs in that span.
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Isaac Hines (Ava Maria) made his first home appearance pitching the fifth inning giving up two runs on three hits while striking out one.
Taylor Franklin (George Fox University), brother of former HarbourCat Davis Franklin, recorded the win in his debut throwing a one-two-three sixth inning, striking out two.
Assistant Coach Steve Sinclair threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Victoria Sports Hall of Fame Night (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)
Mason Chamberlain (Missouri Valley), Jalen Sami (Golden Tide), and Dustin Davidson (Brookhaven) closed out the game, with each throwing a scoreless inning.
After setting season-highs in walks and stolen bases last night, the HarbourCats set another tonight with 18 hits.
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The HarbourCats look for their second straight series sweep tomorrow at 1:05 PM. It is the final game of Kids Free Weekend, thanks to Peninsula Co-op. You can get tickets at the HarbourCats office or at the gate on game day. The kid’s free offer is not available online.
REMINDER: If you have HarbourCats ticket vouchers of any kind, 10-game flex packs, or season ticket equivalent vouchers, all vouchers must be used for any of our remaining eight home games. Should we make playoffs, vouchers are not eligible for any games no matter where they are played. You can exchange your vouchers in advance for game tickets at the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street.
Dillon Lopez celebrates his walk-off base hit that gave Victoria a 10-9 win over the Kelowna Falcons last July 12 (Photo: Justin Morash)
April 7, 2026
Story by Norm LeBus
Photos by Justin Morash
At 11 years old, I was five foot seven and almost as wide, so catcher or right field was the best guess in Little League. A late growth spurt and affinity for Gram’s baking meant I didn’t move very quickly, but I did take up a lot of space.
Squatting with a cage on my head, I closed my eyes when I saw a club swing overhead. Then a ball hit me right in the chest protector.
“Maybe join the outfielders,” coach said.
That was 1970.
I’ve always had a respect for catchers. A crouched blend of courage and mule stubbornness, donning and shedding protective amour between innings. Kind of a point guard in the summer heat, bending to a kneel then standing dozens of times a game, guiding eight on-field players into place and counseling shaky pitchers.
So, it’s validating to hear catching feels exactly like it looks.
“When I started, I’d be sore for a couple days after catching games,” Dillon Lopez says.
“I guess over time you kind of get used to hurting all the time. You get used to your body feeling not one hundred percent and you kind of roll with it.”
Lopez, 21, is currently a junior at NCAA Div 1 program St Mary’s University in San Antonio, his hometown. Lopez joined the Cats late in 2025, arriving July 1 after the team’s starting catcher, Jacob Silva, injured his toe sliding into a base in Kelowna.
“If Dillon had arrived earlier, he no doubt would have been one of our all-star selections,” Harbourcats GM Christian Stewart contends. “He’s just a guy you can send up to the plate with confidence and put behind the dish with confidence to handle any of our pitchers.”
Lopez, 5-10 and about 200 pounds, is kind of built for the job.
Dillon Lopez salutes the crowd after his walk-off base hit gave the Cats a dramatic 10-9 win over the Kelowna Falcons last July 12th (Photo: Justin Morash).
In the WCL, you’re crouched behind home plate in about seven pounds of armour, in what amounts to the engine room. Two opposing forces are trying to collide: a hickory or birch bat whirls past your ear at almost 100 miles an hour as a ball’s incoming at close to the same velocity. When the two intersect, it’s game action: foul ball or in-play on the diamond.
But most of the game, the ball lands in the catcher’s mitt for balls and strikes.
“It doesn’t come too close to my head,” Lopez says of the bat. “But it does come pretty close to my glove. All I try to do is focus on catching the ball.”
Every inch of the catcher is protected, including their throat. It’s kind of a dangerous place. And catchers need to keep it calm in the eye of the storm.
“We’re more of a coach on the field,” Lopez says. “We see everything and we keep everybody in check and remind everybody what they have to do.”
My right field recollections were a lot of daydreaming punctuated by one or maybe two fly balls a game and less grounders.
Not so if you play catcher.
“I love catching because I’m always in the game and helps me stay locked in on what ‘s going on,” Lopez says. “If definitely takes a lot of focus and some homework, understanding batters’ swings and their tendencies.
Lopez is also an outstanding hitter. Arriving July 1 last season, he played 24 games and hit .350 with four doubles, three home runs and 18 RBI.
Currently back in San Antonio for his junior year at St Mary’s University, Lopez is hitting .362 with eight dingers and 43 RBI in 35 games this spring.
Lopez is also outstanding in the classroom as a three-time conference honour roll student in his field of sport science.
And he’s a student of the game, studying both his swing and his catching form on video most nights during the season, ensuring his fundamentals don’t stray.
“Your swing can change slightly during the season,” he explains. “There’s mental fatigue and body fatigue and you have to push through the fog, stay true to fundamentals and not chase little fixes that up end altering the foundation.”
The last year has been a huge challenge for Lopez outside the lines. Three months before he joined the Cats in 2025, Lopez lost a family member after a lengthy illness.
Dillon Lopez should be a steady influence behind the plate for the HarbourCats again in 2026 (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)
His St Mary’s teammate, Garret Brooks, who also arrived in Victoria at the beginning of July, was instrumental at the start.
“He definitely helped me out with getting in there and getting situated,” Lopez recalls. “We hung out with a lot of the guys and kind of got to fit in a little bit, especially when it’s the middle of summer and everybody’s already used to each other.”
It didn’t hurt that both players made immediate impacts: Brooks hit .343 with six doubles and 13 RBI in 20 games; Lopez homered three times with 18 RBI, four doubles and hit .350 in 21 games.
Through 30 games in the current NCAA season that began in February, both players are rolling at St Mary’s: both are hitting well above .300 with a combined 12 homers and 63 RBI.
And when the calendar hits June, Lopez plans to be behind home plate for the first pitch.
“I feel like it should be much better transition wise,” Lopez says. “I get to experience opening day and get the fans to kind of know me a bit more than a new face.
“It’s exciting. I’m looking forward to winning a lot of games.”
Lopez and the HarbourCats begin their 2026 season on May 29th with a visit to Portland and then return to Victoria for the Home Opener against the Edmonton Riverhawks on Tuesday, June 2, 6:30 pm.
Season tickets, single-game tickets, 12 and 32-game flex packs and 2026 All-Star Game ticket packages are now on sale at harbourcats.com/tickets or at the HarbourCats office at 1814 Vancouver Street.
NightOwls go California Dreaming — more arms for Coach Gorm
– Pitching coach Gorm Heimueller, going into his 50th year in the game, will have a lot to work with for mound duties this season.
The Nanaimo NightOwls are pleased to announce the signing of some top-end pitching for the 2026 WCL campaign, and all of those locked in on paperwork today hail from the State of California — which happens to be where Gorm is originally from.
To help Heimueller have a memorable 50th year in baseball, the NightOwls are proud to add these pitchers to his 2026 meeting room:
RHP Jacob Badillo, Cal State-LA, 6-0/180, Lancaster CA
RHP Anthony Cosme, Cal Poly-Pomona, 6-0/208, Inglewood CA
RHP Jacob Alvarez, Orange Coast College, 61-/215, Bellflower CA
RHP Chase Cummins, Cerra Coso CC, 6-0/168, Santa Maria CA
Badillo comes from the same school that provided 2025 starter Lino Zepeda, an effective starter for Heimueller’s staff. As a freshman, Badillo has made five appearances including three starts for Cal State LA so far this spring, posting his first collegiate win.
Cosme has spent time as the Friday Night Starter for Cal Poly, a physical pitcher who runs his fastball up to 93. He was the opening game starter for Cal Poly as a freshman, and went on to make 11 starts and was named the school’s freshman male athlete of the year, walking only 17 batters in nearly 60 innings pitched.
Alvarez is at junior college powerhouse program Orange Coast College, on the same team as recent signee Alan Choo (1B/DH, son of former MLB all-star Shin-Soo Choo). Alvarez already has six appearances this spring, including a start, an innings-eater for Orange Coast with nearly a strikeout per inning.
Cummins is a submariner, a whippy arm and a useful bullpen tool to mix things up — a sophomore who has given up just one hit in his last two outings and is striking out a batter per inning. He had 24 innings of work last summer for Swift Current in the WCBL, so this will be his second summer spent north of the border.
Summer Collegiate
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