HarbourCanucks Corner - March 16th edition

We’ll be posting updates on our players in the Mountain West, WCC and Pac-12 conferences in the coming days, but let’s get you updated right now on the progress of the local ballplayers who will be suiting up for the HarbourCats this summer.

Alex Rogers

Alex Rogers had another good start for Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday, but he took the loss against McCook Community College due to a lack of defensive support. Rogers allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk in 6 ⅔ innings pitched while striking out six. The Nanaimo native has a 2-3 record on the season with a 4.01 ERA and 1.38 WHIP and he has shown excellent control, walking only 4 batters in his 24 ⅔ innings pitched. The Trojans are 13-9 on the season and 7-3 in conference play in spite of their nasty 6.70 team ERA.

Good news -- we can finally give you a full update on Chris Fougner, as Salt Lake Community College appears to have finally solved their technical issues posting box scores. Although he hit his second homer of the year on March 6th, Fougner has cooled off a bit at the plate over the last few days. In his last seven games, the former Victoria Mariner has gone 4-for-27 with a home run and five RBI to go along with three walks and three stolen bases. Fougner is hitting .266 on the season with two homers and 13 RBI in 79 at-bats and he has started 24 of 27 games in the Bruins’ outfield.

After a brief stint batting ninth, Griffin Andreychuk was moved back into the leadoff spot for Seattle University this week. Andreychuk went 4-for-17 with three RBI and two runs scored in four recent games and he also registered his first triple of the season, a long fly ball off the right-field wall against the University of Washington on March 10th. Hardcore HarbourCats fans will recall that Andreychuk is the only player in franchise history to slug a pair of triples in a game, a feat he accomplished on August 8, 2014. He’s hitting .264 on the season with no homers and nine RBI in 72 at-bats, although his on-base percentage is a disappointing .333 so far. Seattle U has a 7-13 record in non-conference games, but they start conference play on the weekend with a three-game series against the Utah Valley Wolverines.

HarbourCatNip

• PJ Floyd’s season has taken a dramatic turnaround of late. After only getting three at-bats in Sacramento State’s first 10 games, Floyd has started the last four games at third base and he has seized the opportunity, going 6-for-19 with two RBI and four stolen bases. The highlight of his week was swiping three bases against (NAIA opponent) William Jessup University on Tuesday, including two steals of third base. Although he is normally a shortstop, Floyd has played three innings at second base this season on top of his four games at third base and he has not committed an error. He is hitting .294 with no homers and five RBI in 34 at-bats, but his on-base percentage is an identical .294 mark. He's still looking for the first walk of his collegiate career.
• On March 10th, Cuesta College’s Alex Fagalde had his second-consecutive solid start after four rough ones to begin the season. Fagalde held Oxnard College to two earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks while striking out four, but he took the hard-luck loss in a tight 2-1 ballgame. He has a 1-5 record with a 4.71 ERA and 1.29 WHIP on the season. Given his decent WHIP and close to a 2:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, you can expect that inflated ERA to continue to fall.
• Adam (AJ) Alcantara started all three weekend games for UC Irvine and went one-for-seven with two walks. Although he has been used almost exclusively in right field, Alcantara moved over to left field for a pair of the weekend games against San Jose State. He sports a .273 batting average and a tidy .400 on-base percentage with no homers and one RBI in 33 at-bats this season.