May 17, 2024

By Tyson Shushkewich

Canadian Baseball Network

The Welland Jackfish, the defending champions of the Intercounty Baseball League (IBL), are set to kick off their season on the road facing the London Majors at Labatt Memorial Park tonight.

The Majors opened their season with a 7-5 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday at Domenico Field.

The Jackfish are one of the newer teams in the league, with the Burlington Herd relocating to Welland for the start of the 2019 campaign. Last season, they captured their first championship when they defeated the Barrie Baycats in a six-game series.

Numerous Jackfish players took home hardware after finishing with a 31-11 record, the top mark in the IBL last season. Pitcher James Bradwell (Roberts Creek, B.C.) earned the Max Roseman Award for the most valuable player for his team in the postseason while outfielder Hogan Brown was named to the 2023 first-team All-Star squad. Designated hitter Steven Moretto (Coquitlam, B.C.) was also named to the IBL second-team all-star squad.

This season, the Jackfish head into a new campaign with many familiar faces but a couple of fresh new players. The club will be without six players from last year’s squad, including Brown, Sam Cawker, Carlos Martinez, and Alberto Guerrero. Bradwell will also not be returning as he joins the Quebec Capitales of the Frontier League and James Smibert (Mississauga, Ont.) is slated to join the Frontier League’s Trois-Rivieres Aigles.

Rich Corrente (Chatham, Ont.) is pencilled in to take the mound for the season opener in London, with the southpaw posting a 4.50 ERA through two innings last season, while right-hander Ben Abram (Georgetown, Ont.) will get the ball for the home opener. The Oklahoma State University product returns to Welland after posting a 1.58 ERA through five games and 22 2/3 innings with the Jackfish last summer.

Other returning pitchers include Chris Boatto (Maple, Ont.), Caleb Feuerstake (Waterdown, Ont.), Scott Gillespie (Sherwood Park, Alta.), Will Jackman (Niagara Falls, Ont.), Mike Mueller (Mississauga, Ont.), Brandon Underhill (Niagara Falls, Ont.), Jake Harford, and Deivy Mendez. Harford is slated to take the mound on Sunday against the Cardinals.

Among the new faces in the pitching corps are left-hander Daniel Howat (Brantford, Ont.) and right-hander Francisco Jimenez. Howat spent the past two campaigns with the Brantford Red Sox and posted a 4.08 ERA through 21 outings (six starts) and 68 1/3 innings, while striking out 58 batters, in 2023.

Jimenez joins the team after working through the Baltimore Orioles’ farm system and has spent the past two campaigns playing in the independent ranks. The Jackfish announced late last year that they signed right-hander Halen Knoll for the 2024 season but he is not listed on the current roster.

Also joining the Jackfish is Dakota Parsons (Pickering, Ont.), who is returning to the diamond after a lengthy layoff.

Position player-wise, catcher Greg Marco (Waterdown, Ont.) returns for his fifth season with the Jackfish. He will be joined by infielders Ethan Hunt (Elginburg, Ont.), Tyler Dupuis (St. Catharines, Ont.), Matteo Porcellato (Pitt Meadows, B.C.), and former All-Star Moretto, who were all part of the championship roster last season. Outfield-wise, Ethan Pasco (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and Gianfranco Morello (Toronto, Ont.) are back with the Jackfish for another campaign.

Newcomers to the Jackfish include rookies Cole Cote (Welland, Ont.), Dawson Tweet (Russell, Man.), Brandon Hupe (Vancouver, B.C.), and Greyson Barrett, as well as catcher Robert Mullen, who suited up for the Majors in 2022.

Cote earned OCAA player of the year and first All-Star team honours with the Durham Lords last season, posting a .582 average, .964 SLG, 12 extra-base hits, and 35 RBIs while committing zero errors behind the plate. Greyson Barrett joins the Jackfish after earning NAIA All-American honours with Texas Wesleyan University last year, posting a .415/.453/.825 slash line with 20 home runs to the tune of a 1.278 OPS with the Rams. Hupe had spent the last four seasons on the West Coast with the University of British Columbia while Tweet, who was signed just days ago, authored a .332/.389/.565 slash line with William Jewell College last season.

Brian Essery returns to the team as the field manager for a fifth season while Pat Casey and Ricky Pillitteri round out the coaching staff.

Heading into the season, the Jackfish rank at the top in the pre-season IBL power rankings given their off-season additions such as Cote and Jimenez as well as the numerous players returning from the 2023 championship season. The Jackfish already have some games under their belt, including hosting the Quebec Capitales (2023 champions of the Frontier League) for a friendly exhibition game while also facing off against the Hamilton Cardinals in a series of games in front of students and school boards from across the region.

With their first game of the regular season slated for tonight, the Jackfish will kick off their home opener on Saturday where they will welcome a familiar foe in the Barrie Baycats. The Jackfish are not only on a quest to make the postseason for a fifth consecutive season but they hope to start a streak of their own and hoist the Domenico Cup in back-to-back campaigns.