HarbourCanucks Corner - March 25th edition

It’s time once again to check in on the three Vancouver Islanders who will be suiting up for the HarbourCats this summer. Here’s what our local boys have been up to over the past week...

Griffin Andreychuk helped Seattle U take two of three conference games from Utah Valley University over the weekend. Andreychuk got on base in all five plate appearances on Sunday to raise his on-base percentage to a respectable .367 mark, although it’s still below his usual .400+ clip. The Nanaimo native went 5-for-12 with three walks, five RBI and a pair of stolen bases in the three games against Utah Valley and he is now hitting .286 with no homers and 14 RBI in 84 at-bats this season. On the down side, Andreychuk continues to struggle defensively on the new artificial turf at Bannerwood Park, as he committed four more errors on the weekend. He now sports a ghastly .898 fielding percentage.

Former Victoria Mariner Chris Fougner is heating up again at the plate, as he picked up at least one hit in all four games last week between Salt Lake Community College and Colorado Northwestern CC. Fougner went 5-for-14 with a pair of doubles, three walks, four RBI and a pair of stolen bases on the week. He is now hitting .280 with two homers and an impressive 17 RBI in 93 at-bats. Fougner also took to the mound on Saturday for his second outing of the season and the lanky right-hander gave up a single in ⅓ of an inning pitched. He has given up two hits and no earned runs in 1 ⅓ innings on the hill this year.

Alex Rogers posted another great start for Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday, a seven-inning complete-game shutout against Northeastern Junior College. The Nanaimo native only gave up seven hits and did not walk any batters while striking out three. Rogers is 3-3 on the year with a 3.13 ERA and a slick 1.29 WHIP in 31 ⅔ innings pitched. He has also shown pinpoint control by walking only four batters all season. Trinidad State leads the Region IX standings with a 9-4 conference record.

HarbourCatNip

• The Toronto Blue Jays will host another baseball camp at Royal Athletic Park this summer with support from the the Greater Victoria Baseball Association and the Victoria HarbourCats. Unfortunately, the ‘Cats will be on the road when the camp comes to town (July 12th-13th), so HarbourCats players will be unable to participate this time around. Unlike last year, Nanaimo doesn't appear on the list of Canadian cities that the Jays will visit. Details on the Victoria event can be found on the HarbourCats’ website. Our write-up on the 2014 camps can be found here.
• The Victoria Eagles will host the B.C. Premier Baseball League provincial championship on the August long weekend (July 30th-August 3rd) at Royal Athletic Park with support from the HarbourCats organization. Details are on the HarbourCats' website.  
• The Victoria Mariners and Eagles will play a BCPBL regular-season game at RAP on June 4th, the night before the HarbourCats’ home opener. Tickets for that game are only $5.