Home-and-Home series with VIU kicks off inaugural CCBC regular season

 March 30, 2022

 Victoria, BC – The Golden Tide are ready to roll!

After a successful exhibition month of March that saw the team cruise to a 9-3 record, the Victoria Golden Tide will begin their first official regular season in the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) with a home-and-home series this weekend with their conference rival Vancouver Island University Mariners.

On Saturday, April 2nd, the Tide will head north to Nanaimo to open the season with a pair of games in the Harbour City. Both teams will then return to Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park on Sunday, April 3rd (1:00 pm start), for a pair of games here, the first official home games on the CCBC schedule.

Pitcher Brady Wilson (20) and the rest of the Golden Tide hope that this will be a common sight in 2022 (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

The Tide come into the regular season with some lofty accomplishments already under their belt, as they were the 4th ranked team in a recent pre-season CCBC Coaches Poll. This was in large part to their performance in the Fall CCBC Championship tournament, where they came one inning away from making the finals, but also because others are noticing the structured, disciplined and top-notch program that Head Coach Curtis Pelletier and his staff are cultivating and putting in place for the players in the first year of the program.

“In our first seven months of existence this team has grown from from an idea to a structured machine,” notes Pelletier. “Our players and coaching staff have worked hard day in, day out to put us in a position to compete in year one. I know the coaches and players are ready to start our first conference season after a great spring training.”

The Tide should be equipped well, both offensively and defensively, to compete in their first year.

On the mound, regular starters Brady Wilson, Cameron Dunn and Triston Seitz have all performed well this spring and are bolstered by a good crop of young arms including the likes of Joel Portz and Ethan Dean, both of whom could see the odd start and by lefty Jacob Popadynec and Haldon Craig, who were both named to the CCBC Pre-Season “Watchlist.”  Craig and fellow reliever Nick Lee, both topping 90 mph on the radar gun at times this spring, will be logical candidates for any closing role.

Offensively, first baseman and RBI-machine Brendan Morrison has been tearing the cover off the ball this spring and he, along with third-baseman Jordan Bond, catcher Parker Harris and Lee (in a DH role), could see themselves penciled in regularly in the heart of the batting order.

At the top of that batting order, expect to see the likes of speedsters Tyler Burton, Daniel Sawchyn and Jaxon Cordle, who get on base often and can use their speed to generate runs for the offence.

Victoria’s Jaxson Cordle hustles to first in a game last fall (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

Defensively, short-stop Brandon Green anchors an infield that will see Morrison (first base) and Bond (third base) getting most of the action at the corners, with Burton and Tristan Bolger sharing duties at second base.  Bryce Carroll (third) and Mike Musselwhite (first) will also see action on the corners.

Catching duties will be shared primarily by Harris and Ryan Whelan, who have seen most of the action behind the plate this spring, while the speed of Cordle, Burton, and Sawchyn, along with that of Chase Thomson and Colton O’Brien, will give the Tide an outfield capable of chasing down many a fly ball.

Brandon Green (right) will be the anchor at shortstop for the Golden Tide infield (Photo: Christian J. Stewart).

Following the games against VIU this weekend, the Tide will host the Edmonton Collegiate Riverhawks April 9th and 10th and then hit the road for games with Thompson Rivers University on April 16th and 17th.  They then return home for games with the Prairie Baseball Academy on April 23rd and 24th, followed by a visit from the Okanagan College Coyotes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday April 29th to May 1st.

After a road trip to the University of Calgary on May 5-6th, the Tide return home for a Monday doubleheader against the University of Fraser Valley on May 9th, then hit the road for a return pair with UFV on the 11th and then close out the regular season with another home-and-home with VIU, with a pair of games here in Victoria on May 14th and a pair up in Nanaimo on Sunday May 15th.

The full Golden Tide schedule, along with start times for all home games, is found below and can also be downloaded at https://bit.ly/gtspringsched

Ryan Whelan will share Golden Tide catching duties with Parker Harris (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

Tickets for all Golden Tide home games are just $5.00 (general admission) and $10.00 (Grandstand covered seating) and are available at the box office which opens one hour before game time. TIckets can also be purchased in advance at the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street.

For those who can’t get to a game, every Golden Tide home game is streamed on-line by Chris Jaycox Productions and GO LIVE Broadcasts!  Fans can purchase the entire regular season of broadcasts (10 dates and 18 games) for just $50.00 or they can subscribe on a game-by-game basis for $7.50 per game.  Links are available at:  https://tinyurl.com/3psta8m4.

First baseman Brendan Morrison has been hitting the ball hard in spring and will be a key fixture in the heart of the Golden Tide batting order (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

2022 GOLDEN TIDE SCHEDULE (Bold games at home)

Saturday April 2 – @Vancouver Island University
Sunday April 3, 1:00 PM Start vs. Vancouver Island University (doubleheader)

Saturday April 9, 12 NOON Start vs. Edmonton Collegiate (doubleheader)
Sunday April 10, 10:00 AM Start vs. Edmonton Collegiate (doubleheader)

Saturday April 16 – @Thompson Rivers University
Sunday April 17 – @Thompson Rivers University

Saturday April 23 – 12 NOON Start vs. Prairie Baseball Academy (doubleheader)
Sunday April 24 – 10:00 AM Start vs. Prairie Baseball Academy (doubleheader)

Friday April 29 – 6:00 PM Start vs. Okanagan College (single game)
Saturday April 30 – 1:00 PM Start vs Okanagan College (doubleheader)
Sunday May 1 – 12 NOON Start vs. Okanagan College (single game)

Thursday May 5 – @University of Calgary
Friday May 6 – @University of Calgary

Monday May 9 – 1:00 PM Start vs. University of the Fraser Valley (doubleheader)

Wednesday May 11 – @ University of the Fraser Valley

Saturday May 14 – 3:00 PM Start – vs. Vancouver Island University (doubleheader)
Sunday May 15 – @Vancouver Island University