The bane of summer collegiate baseball this time of year is the slow bleed of players back to their NCAA and collegiate teams because the academic year in the U.S. begins in late August.
鈥淩osters can shift at about this time,鈥� said Victoria HarbourCats GM Jim Swanson.
That鈥檚 just the nature of the beast.
But Swanson said his club will have a 鈥済ood group鈥� for the playoffs, which will begin on Tuesday in Wenatchee, Washington, against the AppleSox.
鈥淲e鈥檒l have a roster in the mid-20s for the post-season, so we have lots of players,鈥� he said.
Still, it鈥檚 an issue Victoria head coach Todd Haney says the league needs to address.
鈥淭he season lasts too long,鈥� Haney, a five-season former MLB player, has said.
鈥淭here is no reason summer ball should go to Aug. 20 [the potential final game of the WCL playoffs] when guys have to get back to school.鈥�
The HarbourCats will be missing star sluggers such as Jason Willow, Nate Pecota and Tyson Hays for the playoffs due to academic commitments.
A GM, however, wears many caps.
鈥淭he fans want a longer season,鈥� observed Swanson.
鈥淭hey say [summer collegiate ball] is pretty quick and it鈥檚 over.鈥�
Swanson has some recommendations. Among them is to begin the season earlier.
鈥淢aybe starting June 4 this year was a mistake and we lost a week in May we might have had,鈥� said the veteran Canadian baseball administrator.
鈥淧erhaps it鈥檚 better to be scrambling to put together teams earlier rather than enduring the attrition we go through at the end.鈥�
Another Swanson idea is to do away with the WCL all-star game.
鈥淣ot having the all-star break would help compress the season,鈥� he said.
The HarbourCats won the North Division first-half title and playoff berth that goes with it. Victoria will start the best-of-three North final on the road against the second-half representative AppleSox. The second game is Wednesday at Wilson鈥檚 Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. The third game, if required, will also in Victoria next Thursday.
The AppleSox (17-7 in the second half) had won nine consecutive games before losing Thursday to the Ridgefield Raptors.
鈥淵ou have to do pretty much everything well to win that many games in a row,鈥� said Swanson, about the post-season task his charges face against the torrid AppleSox.
The South Division playoff series will have the first-half champion Corvallis Knights playing the Walla Walla Sweets.
The North and South champions will meet in the best-of-three WCL final Aug. 18-20.
The 鈥機ats (18-6 second half and 36-15 overall) are closing out the regular season with six-consecutive games against the Lefties. Victoria was looking for the three-game sweep Thursday night in Port Angeles and got just that.
Mitch Lines started and went five innings, giving up just two hits as the HarbourCats cruised to a 9-0 victory.
Harrison Spohn and Tanner Haney led the Victoria attack Thursday with two RBIs each.
The cross-strait, cross-border marathon between the clubs concludes with three games at Royal Athletic Park tonight through Sunday.
