March 17, 2022

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Wayne Norton was certainly looking down from high above and smiling.

Heck, he was probably charting pitches, too.

For sure, he would have had a front row seat.

The Seattle Mariners, who the late Norton (Port Moody, BC) scouted for, played an exhibition game against the Langley Blaze and as the saying goes ... a good time was had by all. Norton was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.

The Mariners first and second-year pros edged Langley 3-0 in the Norton Memorial game at the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona.

INF Nathan Kirkpatrick (Surrey BC) got a hit off a 100-mph fastball from Mariners’ right-handed starter Bryce Miller, who sat 97-100. Miller, 22, was a fourth-round draft pick from Texas A&M University and received a $400,000 US signing bonus. He pitched in five games at class-A Modesto in 2021.

Langley pitchers threw well as the high school arms helped boost their stock for the July draft:

RHP Matthew Grabmann (Dartmouth, NS), of the Okotoks Dawgs, pitched three innings, allowing one hit and saw his fastball clocked at 94 mph. He has committed to Oregon.

RHP Anson McGorman (Parksville, BC), of the Vauxhall Academy Jets, worked two innings and his fastball registered 90-94 mph. He is headed to Utah.

Dawgs’ RHP Boston Warkentin (Delta, BC), of the Okotoks Dawgs, was next and his fastball was at 92 mph. He has a scholarship to Washington

And finishing up on the mound was Langley’s’ Micah Buckham (Abbotsford, BC), of the Fraser Valley Cardinals, who is headed to LSU and lit up the gun at 93 mph.

INF Sam Shaw (Victoria, BC) of the Victoria Mariners had a pair of hits for the Blaze.