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Victoria HarbourCats – HarbourCats Sweep Wenatchee! Advance to North Division Final

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Victoria to host the Bellingham Bells in North Division Final at Wilson’s Group Stadium, Saturday night at 6:35pm

Story and Photos by Christian J. Stewart

August 10, 2023

Victoria, BC – A sixth inning triple from Marco Pirruccello, double from Hudson Shupe and two-run homer from Tripp Clark, were the HarbourCats first three hits of the game Wednesday night, leading to a 3-0 HarbourCats lead that they then rode to an eventual 4-2 win over the Wenatchee AppleSox in West Coast League playoff action at Wilson’s Group Stadium in Victoria.

FULL BOX SCORE

The win gives the HarbourCats a two-game sweep over the AppleSox in the best of three Divisional Series and now pits them against the Bellingham Bells  – who also swept their series over Kelowna – in the ONE-GAME knockout North Division Final that will be held at Wilson’s Group Stadium at 6:35 pm on Saturday evening.

The winner of that game will advance to Monday’s WCL Championship game, also a one-game win or die affair, that still potentially could be played here in Victoria.

For that to happen, the HarbourCats obviously must win, but then hope that either Portland (who swept their two game Divisional Series over Ridgefield) or Cowlitz (who play a deciding game three against Corvallis in the Divisional series) emerge as the South Division Champions. If Corvallis should emerge, then the HarbourCats would travel south for that game Monday.

Tickets for Saturday’s North Division Final are now on sale and going fast. They can be purchased on-line HERE!

Note:  Fans who have pre-purchased tickets for this game prior to teams and dates being decided, ad season ticket holders who were e-mailed their tickets vis mobile,  should use HOME PLAYOFF GAME #2 for their ticket.

Tickets are also on sale for the potential West Coast League Championship game on Monday evening. These can also be purchased via Select Your Tickets HERE.   If the HarbourCats should not advance, or if this game ends up being played in Corvallis, fans will have their accounts credited accordingly.

Tickets are also on sale in advance at the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street. The office will be open all day Friday from 10AM to 5:30 PM, as well as Saturday 10AM to 5PM for this purpose. Tickets will also be on sale at the gate Saturday starting at 5:30 PM.

On Wednesday night, things were looking down for the HarbourCats as Wenatchee starter Andrew Monson held Victoria hitless through the first five innings of the game.  He did start to tire a bit in the fifth and the decision was made to pull him and go to reliever Evan Canfield, who was greeted out of the pen by a lead-off triple from Pirruccello. Shupe then followed with an RBI-Double and after a circus catch off the bat of Tyler Davis by AppleSox left fielder Frankie Carney, Clark deposited a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence to put the ‘Cats up 3-0.

Meanwhile, the AppleSox were also having early trouble scoring as starter Davis Franklin was almost as good as Monson, holding the Sox to just three hits through the first five innings of play.  Jake Finkelstein came on in relief in the sixth and was brilliant, throwing a three-up, three-down inning and then doing the same in the top of the seventh.

Davis Franklin delivers a pitch Wednesday night.

The ‘Cats would add an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI single from Piruccello and that would be all the scoring until the AppleSox mounted a bit of the rally in the top of the ninth against HarbourCats reliever Skyler Manelski.  That did not last long, as Brett Harvey came out of the pen to record the final two outs and get the save.

This will mark the first time the HarbourCats are advancing to a ONE GAME North Division Final.  They have been in the best-of-three North Division finals three times previous to this, losing to Bellingham in 2016, defeating Kelowna in 2017 and defeating Wenatchee in 2019.  In their only other playoff appearance, Victoria lost to Bellingham last season in the Divisional Playoffs.

 

 

 

 

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Summer Collegiate

First 2025 NightOwls announced by new Head Coach

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Petrey’s numbers make you stop and re-read them — a combined 40 home runs in two seasons for NAIA powerhouse Cumberlands in Kentucky, with 135 runs driven in and a 1.160 OPS. He had a pair of three-homer games in the spring of 2024, finishing with 25 total after a freshman campaign with 15 bombs.

 

Lee, who will start for Pomona-Pitzer this spring, hit .355 in the New York Collegiate league last summer, with nine extra base hits and just 14 strikeouts in 28 games, and was named to the all-star team.

 

Watson is a transfer from Arizona Western who was previously at Western Kentucky. At Arizona Western, the lefty hitter batted .319 with 14 doubles and 12 stolen bases as his team went 37-17, adding to Watson’s winning pedigree from his youth and high school levels, where he was on a number of title-winning teams.

 

Morse is a two-way player but is focusing more on being on the mound, where he started two games for Bellarmine in the spring of 2023. Morse can also hit for power from the right side as a corner infielder.

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Victoria HarbourCats – HarbourCats Ink First Players for 2025

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Four returnees (above L to R: Wyatt MacDonald Jake Finkelstein, Jacob Thompson Kyle Hepburn) and two Fresno State infielders first to become 2025 HarbourCats

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 24, 2024

VICTORIA, BC — With the 2025 West Coast League (WCL) schedule close to being announced, Victoria HarbourCats Head Coach Todd Haney has been busy behind the scenes, assembling a 2025 roster that will look to bring home it’s first ever WCL championship.

Looking to build on the playoff success of 2024 and previous seasons, four familiar faces will make their return to the HarbourCats, including pitchers Jake Finkelstein (Georgia Gwinnett), Jacob Thompson (Minot State) and Wyatt MacDonald (Lower Columbia) — the last two are Victoria natives — and catcher Kyle Hepburn (Southern Illinois), who hails from the Lower Mainland.

Also joining the 2025 roster are first baseman Cayden Munster and middle infielder Jett Ruby, both at Fresno State, continuing a run of solid players from that school that last year brought us WCL All Star Sky Collins and Cam Schneider, in 2023, Team MVP Tyler Davis and Marco Pirruccello and in 2022, WCL All Star Grady Morgan.

Finkelstein was with the HarbourCats in 2022 and 2023 and brings veteran leadership to the pitching corps. In his two years to date, Finkelstein has appeared in 26 games, starting two, and earning a 4-3 record with a 3.16 ERA over 48.1 innings of work. He struck out 50 batters, while walking 18.

Thompson was solid for the HarbourCats out of the bullpen in 2024, appearing in 12 games (20.2 innings pitched) and amassing a 4-1 record and an ERA of 3.48. He struck out 13 batters and walked only four holding opponents to a .211 batting average.

MacDonald was with the HarbourCats late in 2023 as a call up from the Victoria Eagles and saw limited action on the mound appearing in just one game. He is just beginning his freshman season at Lower Columbia under in part the tutelage of Assistant Coach Mike Callia, a former HarbourCat.

Hepburn was an early season call-up for the HarbourCats in 2022, appearing in just five games and then returned for the 2023 season where he appeared in 12 games, hitting .286 with one home run and 11 RBI. He is transferring to Southern Illinois from Johnson Community College where in his freshman year in 2023 he batted .308 (28-for-91) with nine doubles, a triple, a home run, 20 runs scored and 26 RBI.

Munster (6-3/235) and Ruby (6-0/185) will look to provide some pop at the plate from the left side and see key playing time in the infield. Munster was the winner of the Mountain West Scholar-Athlete Award in 2024, one of the highest academic honors bestowed by the conference. Ruby played summer baseball in the PEL for the Humboldt Crabs hitting .345 in 27 games while being named the Team MVP.

“We have a great relationship with Ryan Overland, Head Coach at Fresno State, who consistently sends us quality players and quality individuals,” said HarbourCats Head Coach Todd Haney. “I am confident that Munster and Ruby will be key offensive players for us in 2025, the same way Schneider and Collins were last year, and the players before them” added Haney. “Finkelstein, Thompson, Hepburn and MacDonald, as returning players, know the championship expectations of playing in Victoria and will be able to pass that along to new players on the 2025 team.”

The HarbourCats, who joined the WCL in 2013, will enter into their 11th season of play at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park in 2025 (with the 2020 and 2021 seasons cancelled due to COVID) and have made the playoffs in six of those 10 previous seasons including the last four in a row (2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024) with trips to the WCL Championship game(s) in 2017, 2019 and 2023.

The 2025 schedule, which will feature 27 home league games and (where possible) 2-5 non-league games, should be released in the next week. Season Tickets and 10-game Flex Packs are now on sale, with Season Tickets on at Early Bird Pricing until October 31st. Stop in to the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street to order, or call 778-265-0327. Flex packs may also be ordered on-line in the Cat Shop HERE.

For more updates, be sure to follow the Harbourcats here on our web and on all social channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

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NightOwls complete coaching staff for 2025 season, Heimueller returns

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Anthony Houk, 24, is the new Assistant Coach. The former college infielder, from Mount Vernon, Kentucky, is on the University of Pikeville staff with Andreychuk, the local product who is returning home to lead the NightOwls after last week’s announcements.

 

Hailing from Mount Vernon, KY by way of Rockcastle County High School, Houk was a four-year member of UPIKE baseball starting as a freshman in the 2019 season. In his freshman season, Houk played in 42 games, clubbing 42 hits and 41 RBIs. His opening season performance earned him Mid-South Conference Freshman of the Year. In his senior campaign, Houk hit 14 RBIs and scored eight runs in 56 at-bats. He notched 70 hits overall in his career

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