McFarland: Kooy looking forward to representing Saskatchewan at Canadian Futures Showcase
"The opportunities keep coming for Trentin Kooy and he’s more than happy to take them, no matter how far he has to go.
The Saskatoon native has quickly risen up the ranks of some of the best Canadian prospects set to graduate high school in 2026 thanks to some big performances on even bigger stages.
After appearances at the Prep Baseball Report Junior Future Games in 2023 and the 2024 Baseball Canada Cup with Team Saskatchewan, Kooy is looking forward to adding to that resume when he suits up for Team Black at the Canadian Futures Showcase at Rogers Centre in Toronto Sept. 17-21."
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McFarland: Dawgs’ Kauffman primed to show off skills at his third Canadian Futures Showcase
OF-LHP Landon Kauffman (Vancouver, B.C.) is one of 11 Okotoks Dawgs Academy players that have been selected to compete in the Canadian Futures Showcase which begins on Tuesday at the Rogers Centre. Joe McFarland, of Alberta Dugout Stories, recently spoke to the young prospect.
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McFarland: Best summer ever for Saskatchewan women’s teams at national level
"Saskatchewan is quickly asserting itself as a powerhouse on the girls and women’s national baseball stage.
Headlined by a silver medal in the 21U Women’s Championships in Summerside, Prince Edward Island this summer, all four of the province’s programs played for national medals for the first time ever.
With the 14U, 16U and Women’s Open teams claiming fourth place in each of their tournaments, it marked the best summer ever for the program."
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McFarland: Sabrowski makes MLB debut
Left-hander Erik Sabrowski (St. Albert, Alta.) made his major league debut with the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday. Joe McFarland, of Alberta Dugout Stories, has the details.
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McFarland: Hingley adds another medal to impressive resume
"Claire Hingley’s trophy case is filling up fast.
A gold medalist with Baseball Alberta’s 14U Girls team at the Western Canadian Baseball Championships in Winnipeg in 2022, the Edmonton product added to her haul by winning bronze medals with the 16U squad at the 2023 national event in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
Heading into 2024, Hingley was hoping to use those experiences to become part of the leadership group going into the 16U tournament in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
She delivered in a big way, as Alberta went 2-2 in the round-robin before big wins over Manitoba and Ontario to get into the gold medal game against Quebec."
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McFarland: WCBL's Regina Red Sox still hoping for new stadium
"If the Regina Red Sox had it their way, they would have been playing in a new baseball stadium yesterday.
Their current abode, Currie Field, is more than 60 years old and in need of major upgrades and repairs – ranging from only having one dressing room, a backstop that is held together with zip-ties and washroom facilities which operate off a septic tank system that can’t keep up with park usage."
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McFarland: WCBL may expand East in the future
Is Brandon, Manitoba the next destination for the Western Canadian Baseball League? It’s a question that is up for debate now as the summer collegiate circuit looks at potential expansion destinations in the next decade, writes Joe McFarland, of Alberta Dugout Stories.
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McFarland: Great playoff run by Miller Express comes up one win short
After a 26-29 regular season, the Moose Jaw Miller Express had a great WCBL playoff run, but they ultimately fell one win short. Joe McFarland, of Saskatchewan Dugout Stories, spoke to some of the Miller Express team members after their walk-off loss to the Okotoks Dawgs in Game 3 of the championship series.
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McFarland: "Touch'em all, Crow!" Dawgs star's walk-off cements his spot in WCBL history
"Connor Crowson had always dreamed of hitting a big home run in his hometown Seaman Stadium.
Little did he know, the Okotoks native saved his best moment for the last of the 2024 Western Canadian Baseball League season.
In the bottom of the ninth of the championship series against the Moose Jaw Miller Express, Crowson stepped into the batter’s box with the score tied 5-5.
Knowing that the Miller Express pitchers had been attacking him low and outside, he had his sights set on driving a pitch hard and getting on-base.
He found that pitch on a 1-1 offering from Takao Cookson and sent the baseball to the deepest part of the park, clearing the fence for the walk-off series-clinching home run."
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McFarland: Vanneste shares taste of home with Mavericks’ teammates
“Being the parent of an athlete, you come to expect that you will occasionally have a few visitors to the house.
So when Tyler Vanneste asked his parents, Joey and Patty, if he could have his Medicine Hat Mavericks’ teammates stop by his hometown of Warman, Saskatchewan during a July roadtrip, they rolled out the red carpet.
With a full spread of pulled pork, fruits and veggies, and some Nestea iced tea waiting for them, the team bus pulled in on June 13 for a pre-game meal and plenty of memories.
Believe it or not, the visitors didn’t eat the family out of house and home.
“There were lots of leftovers,” Vanneste told Alberta Dugout Stories. “They cooked up a LOT of pork.”
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ICYMI - McFarland: Canadian Futures Showcase HR derby champ Flewelling impresses at MLB Draft Combine
“When Nathan Flewelling squared up a Riley Burton pitch on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Gulls Field in Sylvan Lake, everyone in the crowd knew the baseball wasn’t coming back.
The three-run seventh inning home run to deep right field tied the game against the Lethbridge Bulls, which the Gulls would later go onto win 7-6.
It was a big moment for the team, and for the Innisfail native who hit his first Western Canadian Baseball League home run with family in the stands.”
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McFarland: Beaning hasn’t slowed down NAIA All-American and Dawgs slugger Crowell
“Nash Crowell may have had the craziest week any college baseball player could ever imagine.
The Reinhardt University slugger found himself in the unpredictable position of going viral after getting hit in the face by a 100 mile-per-hour fastball in a March 30th game.
Just one hospital visit and six days later, he was back on the field hitting a walk-off grand slam with his parents in the stands.
It was a whirlwind filled with a wide range of emotions, and while the scars are gone, the memories are still very vivid in Crowell’s mind.”
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McFarland: Murdoch to learn from challenges in first D1 season at Marshall
“A first love, a first kiss or, in the case of Ethan Murdoch, a first NCAA Division I hit with the Marshall Thundering Herd.
Leading off the bottom of the second inning in a game against Morehead State on April 16, the Swift Current native rocketed the first pitch he saw from Ethan Davis for a no-doubt home run to open up the scoring.
It came as a massive relief for Murdoch, who was making his third start for the team and had gone hitless in his first 13 plate appearances.
“I went up there leading off the inning, really just trying to be aggressive and get on any fastball in the zone and he just happened to basically throw it middle-middle and I just reacted,” he told Saskatchewan Dugout Stories.”
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McFarland: Canadian Futures Showcase HR derby champ Flewelling impresses at MLB Draft Combine
“When Nathan Flewelling squared up a Riley Burton pitch on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Gulls Field in Sylvan Lake, everyone in the crowd knew the baseball wasn’t coming back.
The three-run seventh inning home run to deep right field tied the game against the Lethbridge Bulls, which the Gulls would later go onto win 7-6.
It was a big moment for the team, and for the Innisfail native who hit his first Western Canadian Baseball League home run with family in the stands.”
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McFarland: Jays Care grant helping to rebuild historic Big Foot Diamond in Saskatchewan
A Jays Care “Field of Dreams” grant is being used to help with the rebuild of Big Foot Diamond in Holdfast, Sask. Joe McFarland, of Saskatchewan Dugout Stories, has the story.
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McFarland: Alberta’s Scott looking forward to Women’s National Team camp
“When Julianna Scott heard that Baseball Canada had named its Women’s National Team Selection Camp roster, her first thought was to find the post on Instagram and look for her friends and teammates.
She didn’t expect to see her name near the bottom of the first column on the official announcement post.
The Spruce Grove, Alta., product couldn’t believe her eyes.”
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McFarland: Versatile Babiuk starts new WCBL season with Medicine Hat
“Jaden Babiuk is hoping he can accomplish something in college that only five players have done in Major League Baseball history.
After taking the field at five positions for the Valley City State University Vikings in 2024, the St. Albert product started thinking about the potential of playing all nine positions in a single game.
Only Bert Campaneris, Cesar Tovar, Scott Sheldon, Shane Halter and Andrew Romine have done it at the MLB level.
And while he wouldn’t be able to do it with 10 teams like Will Ferrell did in Spring Training, Babiuk says it is on his bucket list heading into his senior season with the Vikings.”
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McFarland: Celebrating the CCBC's best of 2024
Joe McFarland, of Alberta Dugout Stories, reflects on the best of the CCBC season.
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McFarland: Cascades claim CCBC crown
“Thirteen has become a lucky number for the University of Fraser Valley Cascades in their quest for Canadian College Baseball conference supremacy.
On the way to their first title in 2019, they lost their first game of the final tournament before running the table which ended with a 13-hit performance and a 13-2 win over the Okanagan College Coyotes.”
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McFarland: Melville's Houston has no problem in first college season
“What do you do when a former Major League Baseball player tells you to check out a young high school prospect?
Moose Jaw Miller Express coach Eric Marriott did what any sensible human would do: listen.
In this case, it was Marriott’s pitching coach and former Detroit Tigers hurler Dustin Molleken who was singing the praises of Nathan Houston.
The Melville teenager signed on with the Miller Express as an affiliate player in 2023, and Marriott says he fit right in.”
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