Along with summer, the West Coast League baseball season is careening into third base with spikes up.
“Every day is important at this point,” said Victoria HarbourCats head coach Todd Haney.
“Most of the teams we are playing down the stretch are part of the playoff race. The players are grinding it out and pushing each other and excited to be part of a playoff run.”
The HarbourCats look pretty good in that regard. They must win the North Division second-half title to earn the second divisional playoff slot after the Bellingham Bells took the first-half championship to take the first North playoff slot on offer. The second-half North Division race is tight with the Wenatchee AppleSox leading and the HarbourCats and Kelowna Falcons in hot pursuit.
There are an additional two North Division wildcard berths available based on season performance, and Victoria at 30-14 after Thursday night’s game in Kamloops against the NorthPaws was rained out, appears a leading candidate for one of those slots with nine games remaining after Kamloops.
“We have been consistent offensively and on the mound,” said Haney, a five-season MLB player.
“Our pitchers have got us out of jams and our offence has been doing what it needs to do to get wins.”
Two of the HarbourCats were cited in the third WCL Spotlight rankings released Thursday. Topping the list are two shortstops selected this month in the 2023 MLB draft with first-ranked Phoenix Call of the Corvallis Knights, taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 15th round and headed to the NCAA Pac-12 UCLA Bruins, and second-ranked Elijah Ickes of the Nanaimo NightOwls, taken by the Texas Rangers in the 19th round and headed to the University of Hawaii.
HarbourCats pitcher/slugger Ryan Magdic, the WCL’s answer to Shohei Ohtani, is ranked No. 10 for his “big frame and live fastball [which] means a high ceiling for a two-way player with power.” Ranked 20th is HarbourCats outfielder Michael Crossland out of UC-San Diego, cited for his WCL record-tying 19-game hitting streak this season.
The results of the three WCL Spotlight polls will be amalgamated with a final top-20 released at season’s end.
“The key is keeping everybody healthy,” said Haney, of the stretch drive.
That is a lesson to be learned in summer ball, where university and college players experience what it will be like in Single-A pro ball with games practically every day and numbing overnight bus travel. NCAA Div. 1 baseball is weekends only with mostly plane travel to away games.
“The WCL summer-ball season is a grind and it’s eye-opening to a lot of these players. They have to learn how to take care of their bodies, eat right and play through minor injuries,” said Haney, who did all that in his own journey through the minor pros during his playing days.
“Sometimes you don’t feel 100 per cent. But if you’re only 80 per cent, you’ve got to give 100 per cent of that 80 per cent.”
Thursday was supposed to be the rubber match between the HarbourCats and NorthPaws. The North Paws (10-33) prevailed 6-3 on Wednesday night after the HarbourCats opened the set with a 2-0 win on Tuesday night.
The HarbourCats return home for a key three-game set against the Kelowna Falcons (25-20 after a 7-2 victory over the NightOwls in Nanaimo on Thursday night) that goes tonight, Saturday and Sunday at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park.
The NightOwls (22-22), meanwhile, closed out their home series Thursday night with the loss to the Falcons and begin a three-game set tonight against the NorthPaws at Serauxmen Stadium.
On Thursday in Nanaimo, the Falcons used a three-run third inning to break the game open. Kelowna leadoff hitter Trey Duffield went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Tim Holyk had both RBIs for the NightOwls, finishing 3 for 4 on the night.
