July 16, 2024

UBC Athletics News Release

VANCOUVER – Two more Thunderbirds have earned their opportunity to go pro, as UBC ace Sean Heppner and fireballer Vicarte Domingo have both been selected in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft.

Heppner (Delta, B.C.) was taken in the 12th round, 355th overall, by the Cleveland Guardians. Domingo (Vancouver, B.C.) was chosen in the 19th round, 570th overall, by the San Diego Padres. The two pitchers are the 32nd and 33rd players in program history drafted to or signed by an MLB team.

"With the reality of the shortened draft and the lower levels of the minor leagues being wiped out, to have two guys taken on the same day from our program is a pretty big moment," reflected UBC Baseball head coach Chris Pritchett. "I think it's going to be a real eye-opener for Canadian recruits deciding where to go, seeing that we can be a real pathway to the draft."

After a breakout 2023 campaign that saw him named first-team all-conference, Heppner enjoyed a historically great start to his 2024 season. The third-year immediately set a new Cascade Collegiate Conference single game strikeout record by racking up 16 punchouts in the T-Birds' home-opening win against the College of Idaho Yotes.

Heppner went on to lead the team with a 7-2 record while striking out 107 batters in 71 1/3 innings, a whopping 24 more strikeouts than anyone else in the hitter-friendly CCC.

Before being named first team all-conference for a second straight year, Heppner came up big for the 'Birds when it counted most. He fired eight scoreless innings in UBC's first game of the NAIA World Series Opening Round, leading the T-Birds to a victory over Embry-Riddle Aeronautical (Ariz.) in their first game of the tournament.

"(Being drafted) was for sure the most exciting thing that has happened to me so far in my life," said Heppner. "It's been a dream of mine for so long and so to finally see my name called, it was very thrilling. Cleveland was the team who talked to me the most, they sent a scout up and we had some good conversations and he answered all the questions that I had. Coach Pritchett was acting as my advisor and was in continual talks with that specific scout so we felt we had the best shot with Cleveland and they said the same to Pritch."

"I wasn't really recruited anywhere else, Pritch believed in me, really liked me and gave me a shot," continued Heppner when asked about how being a member of the UBC Baseball program benefitted his overall growth. "I have nothing but thanks for what he and (assistant coaches) Sammie Star, Mitch Hodge and Wayne Corness have done for me in my four years at UBC and not just on the field. All three of them have been in the minor leagues themselves so they have so much wisdom to offer me and they've really helped with preparation and what to expect."

"Heppner has been a workhorse for the last two years," added Pritchett, himself a former major leaguer and MLB scout. "He's been our guy who pitches in the biggest games, he's been reliable, hasn't missed any starts. Just your go-to guy! So we certainly will miss that next year."

"I think the exciting thing is that Cleveland is getting a guy who still has a lot of untapped potential. He works hard and he's still trying to incorporate some stuff with his lower half. I think it's exciting to see what his ceiling could be and I know he's going to a great organization, we're so happy that he's going to get that chance!"

Domingo has spent the last three seasons with the T-Birds, taking over the closer role as a rookie and picking up nine saves behind a dominant 0.89 WHIP and 13.1 K/9. He carried forward that success in to his sophomore campaign in 2023, ticking up his K/9 to 14.1 and authoring a stellar 1.71 ERA.

This past year, the T-Birds asked more of Domingo than ever, as he showed off his versatility by operating as a closer, bulk reliever, and eventually starter for the then-defending conference champions. Domingo was given the toughest assignments for UBC, making both of his starts against CCC-leading and NAIA No.5-ranked Lewis-Clark State Warriors. In his second career start, Domingo fired seven innings of two-run ball against L-C State in the NAIA World Series Opening Round.

"This is everything I've ever dreamed of as a kid, the last couple of days have been a blur honestly, with all of the phone calls and everything happening," marveled Domingo.

"I actually got a call about a week and a half ago to do a workout in San Diego, it was the last pre-draft workout. Once they had called me and invited me there I had a feeling that they would be pretty interested. When I got down there I pitched pretty well, I was 93-95 with the fastball and struck out two of the four batters that I faced. They loved my competitive nature, I just always want to be on the mound with the ball, and they love the metrics, the extension of my fastball, my fastball is spinning at a super high rate and the velocity has been nice, seeing it tick up, they loved that. So they took a chance and I hope that I can prove them right."

"For Vic, I think the starter part at the end, he started to relax a little bit and when he did that I think that he just started to have fun again pitching," said Pritchett. "He remembered why he pitched, not pitching for the draft but pitching just because you like to play. It seemed like he almost instantly had his stuff start to tick up and he really started to excel and he's just kept that going all summer, getting up to 96-97 miles per hour. His stuff has been exceptional, his changeup is already major league ready, we're really excited to see how he fares when he goes out this summer."

The two pitchers are the first Thunderbirds to be drafted since fellow pitcher Garrett Hawkins was selected by the Padres in the ninth round of the 2021 draft. Hawkins is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery after a promising start to his 2023 campaign that saw him post a 3.60 ERA for the Padres' High A affiliate in Fort Wayne. He is currently ranked at the No. 24 prospect in San Diego's farm system, according the mlb.com, and is projected to be a candidate for the major league roster in 2025.

The last T-Bird to sign with an MLB team was slugging infielder Ty Penner who was inked by the Phillies in 2022 after going undrafted.

"Cleveland got a really good pitcher and so did San Diego," concluded Pritchett. "At the end of the day, I'm just thrilled for both of them getting their chance, taking their shot, we couldn't be more proud of them."

Next up for Heppner, he'll head to Arizona for rookie camp at the end of the month, before playing in the developmental league there. Domingo is slated to go to Lake Elsinore in California to play low A ball.