This summer was no vacation for Alex Calbick.
And his baseball career is the better for it.
The graduate of the Coquitlam Reds of the sa国际传媒 Premier League, heading into his senior NCAA year with the University of Maine Black Bears, continued his outstanding West Coast League season before 1,731 fans Friday night at Royal Athletic Park.
Calbick continued tracking the WCL batting title with four hits, including two home runs, in pacing the Bellingham Bells to an 8-2 victory over the Victoria HarbourCats to take the league lead with a .382 average
鈥淚t鈥檚 been my dream since childhood to play pro ball,鈥� Calbick said. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping my play this summer will help me get noticed by scouts.鈥�
It just might.
The Burnaby South High grad wasn鈥檛 highly recruited by U.S. collegiate NCAA programs. But he flowered late and made the Canadian national team for the 2010 world junior championships. That caught the eye of Maine and into a campus across the continent. As proficient in the classroom as on the diamond, Calbick is majoring in civil engineering.
Victoria started newcomer Daniel Koo, 8-2 this season with a 1.54 ERA for the Abbotsford Cardinals in the sa国际传媒 Premier League and headed to Grayson College in Texas. But this isn鈥檛 the sa国际传媒 Premier League, and he had a rough welcome to collegiate summer ball in giving up six runs on seven hits, including three homers, in five innings.
Koo was relieved by Abbotsford Cardinals teammate Emilio Foden, also making his WCL debut, who was also beaten up fairly badly with two home runs allowed as Bellingham had five round-trippers on the night.
Bellingham starter Jason Hager spun a complete-game six-hit victory as the lefty moved to 3-1 with a 2.65 ERA on the season. He had a 6-0 lead and Victoria handcuffed until John Schuknecht鈥檚 two-run shot over the left-field fence in the sixth inning, which gave Schuknecht the H-Cats lead in homers with six on the season.
Victoria concludes its inaugural WCL season with games at RAP against the Bells tonight and Sunday afternoon.
The HarbourCats were eliminated from the playoff race earlier in the week.
It was reported Friday the Bells were also eliminated. But because of a makeup game between Wenatchee and Walla Walla scheduled for Monday if needed 鈥� but not added by the league on its schedule 鈥� that report was in error.
The Bells are hanging by the slenderest of threads, to be sure, but are still mathematically alive. Bellingham must win out against Victoria and hope Wenatchee, a 7-5 upset loser in Kelowna on Friday, also loses its final two regular-season games in Kelowna tonight and Sunday and also drops the makeup game Monday against Walla Walla. Otherwise, Wenatchee and Walla Walla will take the two playoff berths in the North Division.
