HarbourCanucks Corner - April 14th edition

Griffin Andreychuk

Three Vancouver Islanders have been signed by the HarbourCats to full-season contracts for the summer of 2015, so let’s get you caught up on what our local boys have been up to lately.

Griffin Andreychuk continues to hit the cover off of the baseball for Seattle University. The Nanaimo native, who homered for the HarbourCats in a June 24th game at Royal Athletic Park last summer, hit his first career home run for the Redhawks on Sunday to help complete a three-game sweep of the hapless New Mexico State Aggies.

In his last five games, Andreychuk has gone 9-for-23 at the plate with a homer, seven RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Not only has the sophomore pieced together a seven-game hitting streak, but he has also collected at least one hit in 15 of his last 17 games. Andreychuk’s impressive run has moved him into the team lead for batting average (.308) and runs batted in (27), and he has boosted his on-base percentage to a solid .390 mark. The surprising Seattle U squad sits in first place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 11-1 conference record, although Grand Canyon University trails the Redhawks by only ½ game.

Freshman Chris Fougner of Salt Lake Community College had his 10-game hitting streak snapped last Thursday, but the former Victoria Mariner continues to swing the bat with authority. The right fielder went 4-for-12 with five walks and two RBI in a four-game sweep of Western Nevada College last weekend. The sweep helped Salt Lake Community College (12-8) move to within one game of first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings. Fougner, who has started 40 of the Bruins’ first 43 games, has a .315 batting average with two homers and 24 RBI in 130 at-bats. He also boasts an excellent .413 on-base percentage.

Trinidad State Junior College’s Alex Rogers had another good outing on April 10th. The sophomore from Nanaimo held Lamar Community College to two earned runs on six hits and no walks in 5 ⅓ innings pitched while striking out four batters. Incredibly, Rogers has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of over seven-to-one and he has only issued five base on balls over the entire season. He currently sports a  3.99 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 47 ⅓ innings pitched.