Night Owls

Following on the heels of a 14-4 win in the home opener, and a 6-5 late-inning Houdini act on Saturday evening, the NightOwls have now won eight games in a row dating back to August of 2022 when the expansion club closed that season with five wins in a row, including three wins at Serauxmen over the Port Angeles Lefties.

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The NightOwls are one of six teams, in a league of 16, to start 3-0 in this young West Coast League season, sitting in a tie atop the North Division with the Victoria HarbourCats, Wenatchee AppleSox and Bellingham Bells, who will be at Serauxmen Stadium for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday afternoon set next weekend. Springfield and Corvallis are tied at 3-0 in the South Division. Four teams from each division make the playoffs.

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Outfielder Brandon Hupe (UBC) and first baseman Ethan Rivera (Cal State San Marcos) went back-to-back with long balls in the first inning, setting the tone. Hupe, in his second year as a NightOwl and with a year of college eligibility remaining, drove a ball to left field, while Rivera, a versatile right-handed bat who also catches, drove a pitch to the opposite field over the “Screen Monster” to put Nanaimo on a path they would never be pushed off.

Starter Cooper Littledike and five relievers, four of them lefties, combined to scatter seven hits, walk just three, and fan eight hitters, most of those strikeouts coming at key points.

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Otho Savage of Walla Walla took the loss.

Hupe, who is batting .714 to start the season, was 3-4 with three runs driven in and two runs scored, adding a double to his day. Justin Ramirez, the all-time hits leader at Arizona Christian, and DH Wylie Waters were both 2-4 as part of a 12-hit NightOwls attack — including a double each. Slick shortstop Elijah Ickes (Hawaii) was 1-2 with a walk to improve his batting average to .667. Catcher Michael Easter (East LA College) was 1-1 with a run and two walks and is batting .750 in the season’s early days.

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The traveling Sweets move on to play at Victoria on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday — the NightOwls have Monday off before a trip to Kelowna to play the Falcons (1-2) in games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with right-hander Payton Robertson (Arizona Christian) slated to start the first game, followed by another righty in Talon Mihalinac (New Jersey Institute of Technology) in the second game.

The Nanaimo NightOwls plated nine runners in the fifth inning on Friday night in taking down the Walla Walla Sweets 14-4 on opening day for both teams.

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The NightOwls (1-0) took full advantage of the 10 walks and three hit batters in front of a boisterous crowd of 1,364 at Serauxmen Stadium. Starting pitcher Nathan Buchan (1-0) of Redlands College was efficient in giving up just three hits and two walks in five solid innings, backed by relief outings from Jax Christensen (College of Southern Idaho), Jaden Patrick (VIU), Caleb Battye (VIU) and Lucas Hines (Golden West).

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Pointstreak Box Score

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Brandon Hupe (UBC) and Michael Easter (East LA College) were both 2-3, and Aaron Marsh (UBC) had two hits, as part of a 14-hit attack.

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The NightOwls will look to improve to 2-0 on Saturday night against the Sweets (0-1), with Conner Gleissner (Cal State San Marcos) getting the start, a 6:35pm first pitch. On Sunday, a 1 pm start, Cooper Littledike (College of Southern Idaho) is the planned starter for Nanaimo.

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WCL League Standings

This will also give NightOwls fans a chance to see the further-improved configuration of Serauxmen Stadium, which saw the West Coast League land in the Harbour City in 2022, a rival of the Victoria HarbourCats and 14 other WCL teams.

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“We can’t wait to show off more changes for this year — we’re thankful to the City of Nanaimo and other partners for the major improvements at Serauxmen,” said Jim Swanson, GM of the NightOwls. “Our first season was rushed in many ways, coming out of covid and dealing with construction and weather challenges. More new things are set for 2023, and they are exciting.”

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Included are an expanded offering in food services, a new section of bleachers behind the third base dugout, internet upgrades, a slight shift in location of the Owl’s Nest doubledecker bus party zone, and the biggest of all — final, permanent installation of a top-end sound system.

The McGirr Slo-Pitch League, managed by the non-profit McGirr Sports Society, is the top slo-pitch league in Nanaimo with 40 teams in spring and 18 playing fall ball, plus tournaments on weekends — and known for its beer gardens and concessions. McGirr hosts senior slo-pitch on Tuesdays and Thursdays and women’s fastpitch on Sunday evenings, at a fabulous City of Nanaimo facility opened in 1997 with four grass fields featuring 300-foot fences.

The Veniard brothers, right-handed pitchers Andrew (Florida State College-Jacksonville) and Brian (Arkansas State) from Jacksonville are recruits through Head Coach Greg Frady’s network, while Nanaimo product Cody Andreychuk, now head coach at University of Pikeville in Kentucky, has sent three players to the NightOwls — Sammy Torres, Richtter Castillo and Riley Paulino.

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Torres is a scrappy catcher from Puerto Rico, Castillo is a hard-throwing lefty from Maracay, Venezuela, and Paulino is a left-hander from nearby Fife, WA.

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The NightOwls’ roster will feature players from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan, USA and Canada — Team United Nations.

“Kat”, as Kotaro Uchida is known, is a returning player who hails from Japan now at Missouri Valley College. Kat was 3-1 with a 5.94 ERA and two saves in 10 appearances in 2022.

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Ickes is a strong draft prospect from Hawaii who has committed to the University of Hawaii, while Little is a mainstay in the outfield for the Div2 program at St. Martin’s. Christensen is a reliever who has been used to close games at CSI.

Details will also be the season-long in-game crowd engagement host, running contests and on-field events to keep the action going between innings.

The latest round of finalized roster players for the 2023 Nanaimo NightOwls includes left-handed pitchers Hayden Cuthbertson of Parksville, along with Conner Gleissner of Cal State-San Marcos and Lucas Hines of Golden West College, and returning right-handers Seth Gurr, a Nanaimoan, and Cooper Littledike, a Utah product at College of Southern Idaho back for a second summer as a NightOwl.

“(Pitching coach) Gorm (Heimueller) likes this announcement, I’ll tell you that,” said GM Jim Swanson. “Arms with velocity and pitchability make him smile. Gurr and Littledike showed they can get WCL hitters out last year, when they stick to the program, and the lefties will help us at Serauxmen Stadium, with the right-field monster and how it is part of play.

“Adding versatile offensive guys in Niko Diaz and Drew Dalton, strong defensive players, will only make the pitching staff even better.”

Diaz is an on-base machine for San Marcos and started every game so far this season for the Cougars. Dalton, who had a hand injury, returned to his spot at shortstop and leadoff late in the season at Cumberland (.327, three home runs), where he was a teammate with local infielder Tim Holyk.

Hines has 27 strikeouts in 18 innings this season, while Gleissner (11 starts) is a rotation mainstay at San Marcos. Cuthbertson (18 strikeouts in 12.2 innings) and Gurr (6-0 in 11 starts) both pitched at Bossier Parrish this spring, with Gurr named second team all-conference. Littledike (15 Ks in 9.2 innings this spring) was 1-3 in seven starts for the NightOwls in 2022.

“The support from people from the community, and indeed all over the continent, was a great source of comfort for the whole family,” said Jim Swanson, GM of the NightOwls. “One of our owners, Helen Edwards, is a philanthropist who admires the work at Children’s and immediately stepped in to help as well. The NightOwls supported Tina and family throughout and could not be more proud of Simon, of the whole family.

“I can say on behalf of Tina in particular, thank you to everyone who supported in every possible way, always asking how Simon was doing. This was community at its best.”

Tina steps back into the NightOwls office knowing Kent Malpass, and colleagues in Victoria, have assisted with offseason planning and logistical duties. People stepped up at every turn. She’s excited to reconnect with season ticket holders, valued corporate partners and other stakeholders who are overjoyed the West Coast League has set a firm foundation in the Harbour City and region.

For all those showing patience through this time, thank you.

“I know Tina is fired up for this second season, with outstanding coaches, a strong player roster, and Nanaimo fans eager to see what’s new for year two,” said Swanson. “We’re glad to see this awful news behind them all. It’s turned into a great story — and I can’t wait to see Simon throw out a first pitch at a game in June.”

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