The Bruins have provided a good pipeline to the HarbourCats roster, sending Jake Pries and Brett Urabe last season and Jarron Silva and Kyle Mora this season.
Silva looks especially promising, hitting .364 over 12 games for Victoria heading into tonight鈥檚 West Coast League game against the Kitsap BlueJackets (6-11). What鈥檚 even more impressive is that Silva is an incoming UCLA freshman who just graduated from Grade 12 this spring.
鈥淲hen you get UCLA players, you鈥檙e getting the cream of the crop,鈥� said Norris-Jones, of a Bruins program that has made it to the College World Series three times since 2010, winning it in 2013.
鈥淛arron Silva can be as good as Pries. He is a pure hitter.鈥�
Silva, who has played on the San Francisco Giants scout team, displayed that at St. Mary鈥檚 High School in Stockton, California, as a career .366 hitter with 14 doubles and nine triples while driving in 30 runs and scoring 58.
In Victoria, the six-foot outfielder has 12 hits, eight runs scored, four RBIs, six walks and six strikeouts in 33 at-bats with five stolen bases.
Silva is one of the reasons the HarbourCats are on an 11-game winning streak, just three shy of the all-time WCL record of 14 consecutive wins held by the 2011 Wenatchee AppleSox. Victoria is 11-3 after three losses to start the season.
But Silva admits coming to Victoria immediately after finishing Grade 12 鈥渉as been a big change for me, but the coaches here have really helped me out.鈥�
So, too, will a visit from dad Greg and mom Danielle next week.
It鈥檚 all part of a whirlwind year for a guy who surfs and grew up going to Stockton Ports minor-pro baseball and Stockton Thunder ECHL hockey games as a kid. The highlight of the year was getting recruited to the NCAA by the prime Pac-12 team of his liking.
鈥淚 always wanted to be a Bruin and UCLA was my No. 1 choice,鈥� he said.
But before Silva gets to play at Jackie Robinson Stadium, UCLA coach John Savage wants to get him a summer of seasoning at Royal Athletic Park.
鈥淸The Victoria coaches] have really helped me with my swing,鈥� said Silva, who will major in business economics, and hopes to get drafted after his junior year.
鈥淛ust a couple of changes to my swing here have really helped me out a lot.鈥�
Tonight begins a three-game set against the BlueJackets. Starting for the HarbourCats is Austin Dondanville from Cal Poly, who has allowed just one hit and no runs with 10 strikeouts in his six innings pitched this season over two games.
Scheduled to start Saturday is WCL pitcher of the week, Will McAffer from North Vancouver. He threw a two-hitter over six innings, with 10 strikeouts and only two walks, in Victoria鈥檚 last game, a 6-0 victory over the Cowlitz Black Bears on Sunday.
