It has been a dizzying week of news for Island baseball and the West Coast League, highlighted by the Nanaimo NightOwls taking the three-game WCL set 2-1 against the previously torrid Victoria HarbourCats (29-13).
It was capped by Thursday’s 6-5 walk-off victory with Elijah Ickes, selected by the Texas Rangers this month in the MLB draft pick, scoring the winning run for the NightOwls in the bottom of the ninth inning at Serauxmen Stadium in the Harbour City.
The NightOwls (20-19) were in Wenatchee, Washington, on Friday night to begin a key three-game series against the AppleSox (28-11). The HarbourCats have a bye weekend in the WCL and are playing the Coquitlam Angels, a top men’s senior-amateur team, in a three-game exhibition series that began Friday night and continues today and Sunday at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park.
Meanwhile, Nick Pivetta of Victoria, who threw the first pitch in HarbourCats history in the WCL, set the Boston Red Sox franchise record for the most strikeouts in relief with 13 over six innings in a game this week against the Oakland A’s.
Only five pitchers in the modern era have matched or surpassed that, including Randy Johnson with 16 in 2001, Walter Johnson with 15 in 1913, Rube Marquard with 14 in 1911, Denny McLain with 14 in 1965 and Billy O’Dell with 13 in 1961. Pivetta is the only one on that heady list who did not allow a hit.
Sam Shaw of Victoria, meanwhile, will not play in the collegiate summer league WCL after inking a pro deal with the Toronto Blue Jays, the team he has followed since childhood, for a reported signing bonus of $285,000. That is well over the listed slot value of $176,000 for a ninth-rounder, which is where the versatile Victoria Eagles and sa国际传媒 U-18 slugging infielder-outfielder was taken this month in the 2023 MLB draft. The Lambrick Park Secondary graduate was committed to NCAA Div. 1 Xavier.
Undrafted former Victoria Eagles, Harbourcats and Canadian junior national team player Noah Takacs, a six-foot-three pitcher from Oak Bay, signed a free-agent contract Friday with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Island product was 2-0 this season with a 3.00 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 15 innings with Cal State-Sacramento in the NCAA.
