NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 10, 2017

VICTORIA, BC — It’s a critical July home series for the Victoria HarbourCats, and Head Coach Brian McRae has set his rotation with the Yakima Valley Pippins arriving at Royal Athletic Park for games Tuesday through Thursday.

All games are 6:35pm starts (gates open 5:30pm)

TUESDAY, July 11 — RHP Taylor Propokis (Colorado Mesa)
WEDNESDAY, July 12 — LHP Claire Eccles (UBC)
THURSDAY, July 13 — LHP Jack Owen (Auburn)

Taylor Prokopis gets his second start for the team, while lefty Claire Eccles will make her first WCL regular season start — she has made five appearances, four in league and one start in non-league, in her first season. In the series finale, lefty Jack Owen will take the ball.

It’s also a very, very busy promotional week for the HarbourCats, that concludes on the weekend with the Burnaby Bulldogs (PIL) in for a non-league two-game set that involves a Saturday FIREWORKS game, and is a preview of the Baseball Canada Men’s Championship, slated for RAP in August. Burnaby is the BC rep for that tournament as the defending provincial champions.

Raptor Detailing will be selecting a car to clean up and make to shine with a special promotion this week as well — details to be announced at the games!

THROWBACK TUESDAY — Welcome back, Victoria Mussels! Thanks to Popeye’s Supplements in Victoria, the Victoria Mussels (Muscles?) return to the field at RAP, as the HarbourCats will be wearing special throwback jerseys, available as well for sale in the merch booth. Popeye’s will be giving out a number of cups and gift cards, and shirt tosses into the crowd!

Also, it’s ANAWIM SOCK TOSS NIGHT, bring socks and throw them on the field when the HarbourCats hit their first home run. This game is sponsored by Christian J. Stewart Photography, official photographer of the HarbourCats.

MUSIC BINGO WEDNESDAY — We did this last year, and back by popular demand with Shawn Gorman’s Music Bingo machine!

THURSDAY WITH WESTSHORE U-LOCK MINI-STORAGE — Great sponsor from the Westshore helps celebrate HarbourCats baseball and support Tour de Rock cancer fundraising, with giveaways planned.

FIREWORKS SATURDAY — WALLACE DRIVING SCHOOL is the sponsor of Saturday’s big Fireworks show, tickets always go fast for this one!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY ON SUNDAY –(1:05pm game) ColdStar Solutions is celebrating Christmas in July, get ready to hear some December tunes and have fun with a big group from Coldstar Solutions, and it’s TD BANK GAMEDAY with a big group from TD BANK, including giveaways.

Tickets are available online via Ticket Rocket: http://www.ticketrocket.co/search/events?searchText=HarbourCats

Complete ticket information is available at www.harbourcats.com/tickets
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FOUR HARBOURCATS TABBED WCL ALL STARS, VANSAU PLAYER OF THE WEEK

The West Coast League announced the rosters for next week’s 2017 WCL All Star game, with four members of the HarbourCats being named to the North Division squad.

RHP Indigo Diaz

LHP Jack Owen

RHP Adam McKillican

OF Hunter Vansau

A native of North Vancouver, BC, Indigo Diaz is in his second season with the HarbourCats as a rising sophomore at Iowa Western Community College. A late-inning reliever for head coach Brian McRae, featuring a low-90’s fastball, Diaz has appeared in 13 games, working to a 5.19 ERA while recording 23 strikeouts against 10 walks and 17 hits in 17.1 innings pitched.

A highly touted freshman-commit of Auburn (SEC), Jack Owen has quickly established himself as one of the premiere pitchers in the WCL. Owen is 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA in five appearances, including four starts. In 25.1 innings pitched, he has allowed just 15 hits and six walks while recording 27 strikeouts. The native of Coto de Caza, CA has not yet pitched enough innings to qualify for league leaders otherwise he would own the best ERA among starters in the league.

The second Canadian among the HarbourCats all star selections, Adam McKillican has earned his place at the top of Victoria’s starting rotation, having been named WCL Pitcher of the Week twice in the month of June. A rising sophomore at UBC, McKillican is tied for second in the WCL in wins with his 4-0 record in eight appearances, five starts, to go along with a 1.84 ERA. The native of Courtenay, BC leads the team with 39 innings pitched, allowing 35 hits and nine walks with 23 strikeouts.

Outfielder Hunter Vansau has paced the HarbourCats offence ever since his arrival from Mississippi State (SEC) where he was a regular in the Bulldogs run to NCAA Super Regionals. The rising senior from Crawford, TX is hitting .426 in 14 games with four home runs and 18 RBIs, totalling eight extra base hits.

The Yakima Valley Pippins will host the 2017 WCL All Star Game on Tuesday, July 18 at Yakima County Stadium. All Star Weekend will also include the home run derby on Monday, July 17.

The WCL also announced on Monday that Vansau has been named the league’s player of the week for July 3-9. Vansau batted .524 (11 for 21) with three home runs and 12 RBIs this past week, highlighted by a 5 for 5 performance in a win over the Bend Elks on Saturday where he collected a homerun, a double and drove in six runs. Vansau also scored eight runs and stole three bases in six games this past week.

2018 SEASON TICKETS

2018 season tickets will go on sale in July including the highly popular Campbell Real Estate Club. Tentative plans are in the works to expand the new home plate seating section from two to four rows of padded seating.

Waiting lists will be taken for season tickets in the Diamond Club seats.

Visit the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street or call (778)-265-0327 to purchase season tickets or for more information. You can also email brittany@harbourcats.com for further details, or go to the team website at harbourcats.com.

OFFICE HOURS

The HarbourCats office (1814 Vancouver Street, 778-265-0327) is open 9:00 – 5:00pm daily on non-home game days. On home game days, the office is open at 9:00am until one hour prior to game time, when the ballpark gates and box office open.