In many ways, pitcher Ty Provencher is the quintessential West Coast League baseball player.
He is good enough to make it to the U.S. collegiate NCAA and dream about the Major League draft, but with enough holes in his arsenal to be realistic.
A summer in the WCL, a kind of finishing school for NCAA players, won鈥檛 hurt.
That begins for Long Beach State hurler Provencher and his Victoria HarbourCats teammates on Wednesday when the HarbourCats open their inaugural season at Royal Athletic Park against the Kelowna Falcons.
鈥淚 need a couple of pitches,鈥� said the six-foot-two, 180-pounder, who hopes to carve a role as a closer with the HarbourCats.
At least he won鈥檛 be facing the aluminum bats used in the NCAA, which can exaggerate the length and strength of hits.
The WCL uses wood bats the players will see in pro ball, if they get that far. That is one of the appeals of a summer league such as the WCL, one of several featuring NCAA players across North America.
鈥淚 aim to blow them [wood bats] up,鈥� quipped Provencher.
He was, of course, taking poetic license, so don鈥檛 look for wood splinters to be flying literally.
But Provencher does display the confidence of a closer. 鈥淚 throw strikes,鈥� he said.
But he realizes he will need more than that for the pro game. That鈥檚 what this summer with the HarbourCats is all about.
Meanwhile, only HarbourCats players whose teams didn鈥檛 make the NCAA tournament, such as Provencher鈥檚 Long Beach 49ers, are in town preparing for the WCL opener.
HarbourCats such as conference playoffs all-star Anthony Hermelyn of the Big 12-champion Oklahoma Sooners are still playing in the NCAA tournament and will join the Victoria WCL club later.
Hermelyn and Sooners teammate Justin Berba are among five HarbourCats players still alive in the NCAA tournament after the first round. The others are Bryan Conant and Joe Navilhon of Cal State-Fullerton and Brett Urabe of the UCLA Bruins.
HarbourCats eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament over the weekend were Robby Nesovic and Connor Baits of UC-Santa Barbara, Jordan Ellis and John Schuknecht of California Polytechnic, Alex Real of New Mexico and Ryan Keller of San Diego State.
Their arrivals will be announced soon but they are not expected to be in Victoria in time for Wednesday鈥檚 opener.
