-Kelowna, BC, Nov 12, 2020

-Press Release

The Okanagan College Coyotes baseball program is excited to announce the signing of Clark Swift for the 2021-2022 season.  Swift who is currently a member of the Okanagan Athletic U18 Premier team will attend Okanagan College’s business program at the Kelowna campus.

“We are extremely pleased to have Clark join and comm

it to our program,” says Head Coach Geoff White, “He has had a tremendous fall, made significant progress, and has a lot of potential.”

Swift, the 6’2, 180 brings a tremendous amount of athleticism.  He has primarily played in centerfield this past fall, while also logging time on the mound and infield.

“Clark brings a ton of versatility; we like how athletic he is and that he has experience in a variety of positions.” Adds White.

The Mount Boucherie High School is a product of the Okanagan Athletic Premier program, he has progressed through the ranks from the Junior Premier team to now a leader for the Senior program.

“Swift has been around the stadium for a while, there is history with the family along with two younger brothers that are and have gone through our Junior Coyotes program.  All have shown tremendous passion for the game and outstanding work ethic.  We are excited that Clark can be the first of three brothers to possibly go through our Okanagan College Coyotes program,” finishes White.

The Coyotes wrapped up their fall season in late October that saw then mainly intersquad and compete with the Okanagan Athletics U18 due to COVID restrictions currently in place.  The team is working towards the 2021 spring championship season.  Stay up to date with all things Coyote baseball on our social media platforms and website, www.okanagancollegebaseball.ca

The Yotes have been busy this fall, playing games on a daily basis. This week was no different as we continued to play intersquad games as well as games against the Okanagan Athletics. As we get closer to the Fall World Series, some of the Yotes are trying to prove why they should not be slept on.

The pitchers continue to improve from the start of the fall and there are many guys that have pitched really well as of late. Freshman, Gavin Wuschke, pounded the strike zone with everything he had in 4 innings of work against the Athletics. He showed a great two seam fastball that was paired with a nasty curveball. Senior, Brett Reid, continues to show why he should be relied upon come seasons time. In his three innings of work he was able to strikeout five consecutive batters, showing off excellent control and movement on his pitches. Senior, Aiden Mordecai, also flashes quality stuff, with his electric fastball and devastating changeup. He was able to work 4 quality innings in the intersquad. Other notable performances include Quin Gorchinski, Justin Misfledt, and Jesse Poniewozik.

The hitters have done quite well this fall, even with limited swings. Freshman, Brendan Evans, has shown to be a quality piece in the lineup because of his ability to spray line drives all over the field. Senior, Jake Fischer, and Junior, Nolan King, showed off their power this week by launching homeruns just an inning apart. These two continue to be forces in the middle of the lineup. Freshman, Anthony Wyslobocki, continues to be a pest at the plate with his ability to have good at bats and drive the ball into the gaps consistently. Other notable performances from this week include Logan Campbell, Hayden Misfeldt and Kaden Dore.

The Fall World Series will take place over the next two weeks consisting of three teams. Team Black, Team Red and Team White all look to compete over the course of the next couple weeks in order to be crowned champion.

The Coyotes continued their fall by competing in some more intersquads and games against the Okanagan Athletics. Over the weekend the Yotes stepped up their level of play in all facets of the game. Hitters had some great swings; pitchers threw more quality pitches and there were many great defensive plays. There is still lots of work to do but the progression is a positive sign moving forward.

On the pitching side of things, Sophomore, Sean Dunn, pitched really well, locating all his pitches and proving to be a guy that steps up when he is called upon. Senior, Brett Reid, also pitched was very efficient in his outing, throwing only 37 pitches in his 4 innings of work. He was constantly around the zone and making key pitches when he needed too. Sophomore, Adam Sarafinchan, also continues to deal as he kept blowing it by batters with his electric fastball. Other standouts from the week include Devon Moore, Brennan Flodin, and Gavin Wuschke.

The hitters have started to get more acclimated at the plate and have started to put together better at bats. Junior, Brendan Luther, was a monster at the plate this week hitting a triple off the wall and spraying line drives all over the field. Freshman, Anthony Wyslobocki, continues to impress by hitting the ball all over the field. He hit two triples in the intersquad and drove in 5 runs. Senior, Jake Fischer, and transfer, McCoy Pearce, continue to be forces in the middle of the lineup, both driving doubles to the wall. Other notable hitters from the week include Trevor Mlait, Justin Misfeldt, Conner Leavitt and Matt Boychuk.

This week will include some more intersquads, as well as some more games with the Athletics. The exact schedule is still TBA.

The Coyotes having just completed their first week of workouts and will enter a busy weekend of competition.  The Okanagan Athletics and Trail U18 programs will face off against the Yotes in their first competition outside of intersquads.

“We have had a busy first week of fall camp,” says Head Coach Geoff White. “We have been pleasantly surprised on how prepared the group has been in our first few intersquad games.”

Last weekend the Coyotes faced off in a series of 3 intersquad games, some notable performances from a variety of returning and new faces was as expected.  Freshman  Maris Brons, RHP, Saskatoon, SK, got off to a great start throwing two solid innings not surrendering a hit, along with Calgary native Cory Lawson following suit on the mound.  Junior Nolan King blasted his first home run of the fall over the center field scoreboard.  Incoming transfer and firstbasemen McCoy Pierce also had a solid weekend with hitting a couple of doubles

“There was some excellent pitching performance, at bats, and defensive plays over the first weekend of intersquads, ” adds White. “We will continue to work on all aspects being more consistent all fall and continuing to improve in a variety of other areas.  I think overall the entire coaching staff has been pleased with the baseline level of competitiveness.”

Due to COVID 19 Protocols only players and staff are allowed in the facility, so the only way to catch live action is through our livestream.

Upcoming Livestream Schedule

Thursday September 10th- @ 5:00pm vs Athletics and 7:45pm Red vs Black

Friday September 11th- @ 4:30pm Red vs Black

Saturday September 12th @ 9:30am vs Athletics

Saturday September 12th @ 3:45 vs Trail U18

The Coyotes will return to the field starting September 1st after the season being cancelled in mid March.  Now with return to play protocols in place, the Coyotes will get prepared for the 2021 season starting this fall.  The Coyotes are coming off a shortened 2020 campaign that saw them get off to a great start with big wins of # 1 Central Arizona College and # 9 College of Southern Nevada while on their annual spring trip to the desert.

“We are excited to get back to baseball,” says Head Coach Geoff White who is entering is 13th season, “It was extremely difficult in mid March to have to shut down, but we are moving forward and making the most of what is in front of us.”

The Coyotes will resume regular practices Septemeber 1st at Elks Stadium in downtown Kelowna. (Pictured below) There will be several familiar faces back in camp that had a big impact in the shortened 2020 season.  Wyatt Hummel (RHP, West Kelowna, BC), Chris Wyslobocki (RHP, Etobicoke, ON) Aiden Mordecai (RHP, Langley, BC), and Austin Brown (RHP, Powell River, BC) will look to lead a talented and deep pitching staff filled with returning faces and new freshman.  Sophomore Adam Sarafinchin (RHP, Kelowna, BC) made some serious strides physically during the shut down and made substantial progress.

Brendan Luther (INF, Toronto, ON) and Jake Fischer (C, Edmonton, AB) will anchor the infield and offense, both had solid 2020 campaigns and have perennial leaders in the Canadian College Baseball Conference in many stats.  Trevor Mlait (OF, West Kelowna, BC) will lead the outfield that will see Ethan Loran (OF, Oyen, AB) and Nolan King (OF, Regina, SK) along with several other infielders and outfielders that will be challenging for larger roles.

“We are really excited that the majority of the group is returning, and the excellent recruiting class we were able to bring in.” says White. “We have extremely high expectations for this group and how they will perform out of the gate in the fall.”

The team will mainly focus on internal competition during the fall due to restrictions still in place on travel and large groups.

“We are confident we will be able to accomplish what we need this fall which is get as much competitive experience under our belt.  finishes White.

Stay tuned for complete fall preview.

Elks Stadium mid August 2020

-May 28th, 2020- Kelowna, BC

The Coyotes will be looking towards September and return to baseball as we move into the summer.  With the recent cancelation of a majority of summer leagues across North America, our student athletes will be looking to focus on individual development over June, July and August.

“It was really unfortunate the stoppage of our 2020 season, and recently the summer teams suffering the same reality.” says Head Coach Geoff White, “players will now be able to shift their entire focus to preparing for September with individual workouts.”

In recent CCBC meetings in late May the conference has made a series of plans based on the direction of return to play protocols.  Plans include a variety of schedule options and championship options.

“It is the goal of our conference to try and get some form of the 2020 season in through September and October, culminating in crowning a 2020 champion,” adds White.  “we will be keeping a close eye on how our health officials alleviate restrictions so plans can be made to make the best out of the situation.”

More details will be released by the CCBC as information comes about through June and July.

The Coyotes were off to a tremendous start in 2020 before the stoppage.  With the annual trip to Las Vegas and Arizona a big success with wins over # 1 Central Arizona and #16 College of Southern Nevada, the team had extremely high expectations.

“We are excited for our returning players and how much this one off summer offseason will allow them to develop even more, and make the most out of the terrible situation.   Also with a new freshman class coming in that we are excited about the expectations will be even higher,” finishes White.

Keep to www.okanagancollegebaseball.ca for updates over the summer months.

The 2020 season was cancelled in mid March due the COVID 19 pandemic.  Currently the Canadian College Baseball Conference is working on plans to move the spring 2020 schedule to the fall.  Details on scheduling and championship will be provided as they become available.

“Obviously this is unfortunate, we got off to a great start down in Las Vegas and Arizona and had high expectations.” says Head Coach Geoff White.

The Coyotes will now make a series of plans for the players and program to move forward during this ever changing situation.

“We are trying to make plans for September and beyond, and like everyone else hoping that we can get through this pandemic quickly.  It is unchartered territory for everyone, we will just try to put our best foot forward when we can.” finishes White.

Stay tuned as details will be posted upon release from the CCBC league office.

-Las Vegas, Nevada- Feb 21^st, 2020

Coyotes Baseball Win over # 1 and # 12

The Coyotes are near the tail end of their season opening annual trip to Las Vegas and Phoenix and what a week it has been. On Monday the Coyotes headed to Coolidge, Arizona to face the 2019 Junior College World Series Champions and current # 1 ranked program in Central Arizona College.

Wyatt Hummel, (West Kelowna, RHP, Sr) took the ball for his first start of the season and didn’t disappoint. The Coyotes pitching staff leader turned in 4 strong innings striking out 4 surrendering 3 runs. He then turned the ball over to Nic Taylor, (Calgary, AB, LHP, Soph) who also pitched extremely well going 5 innings to pick up the win in a 9-7 affair.

“Central Arizona is consistently the premier program in Junior College in the country that have multiple MLB draft picks and MLB alum,” adds Head Coach Geoff White. “For us to go in to their field and win a great game 9-7 was extremely satisfying for this team.”

Brendan Luther (Toronto, ON, INF, Soph) paced the offense going 2-4 with a triple, 2 runs, an RBI and a stolen base.   Luther has had an incredible start to his season hitting over .500 for most of the trip and playing outstanding defense at short stop. Ethan Loran (Oyen, AB, OF, Soph) also went 2-4 with a triple, 2 runs, and 2 rbi.

“We had some timely hits and made excellent pitches to hold off a extremely talented team,” adds White “we have been talking about the capabilities of this team and the high expectations we have, and I think we just showed what we can do by taking a win off the # 1 team in the nation.”

The Coyotes weren’t done there as they headed back to Las Vegas to take on the College of Southern Nevada currently ranked # 12 in the nation. The CSN program is where MLB superstar Bryce Harper came from and has produced many other MLB players and numerous draft picks. The Coyotes kept the momentum rolling on Thursday night as Chris Wyslobocki (Etobicoke, ON, RHP, JR) turned in 7 shutout innings while only surrendering 2 hits while striking out 8 on route to a 6-2 win for Okanagan College. Once again Brendan Luther lead the way going 2-4 scoring 2 runs with a walk and and RBI. Nolan King (Saskatoon, SK, OF, Soph) had a massive 2 RBI double in the top of the 9^th to keep the game out of reach.   Local Kelowna product Adam Sarafinchin (Kelowna, BC, RHP, Freshman) picked up the save as he worked out of a bases loaded, 0 out situation in the bottom of the 8^th.

“Chris really was fantastic, he had all three pitches working and we made plays behind him,” says White. “they have an outstanding program and for us to pick up another win against a ranked opponent really shows this teams ability. We have shown that we can play with some really tough competition, and this trip isn’t easy as we play 15 games in 8 days, it shows how deep this team is.”

The Coyotes will wrap up their annual trip over this weekend against the College of Southern Nevada and Community Christian College from California who the Coyotes beat 4-2 earlier in the week.

The Okanagan College Baseball team is out for revenge this spring. After a heartbreaking series loss in the 2019 CCBC championships at the hands of University of Fraser Valley Cascades. The team looks to improve after a strong 2019 campaign, which saw broken records in strikeouts (268), wins (21), and stolen bases (96).

Chris Wyslobocki (RHP, Jr, Etobicoke, ON) and Wyatt Hummel (RHP, Sr, West Kelowna, BC), are both poised to lead the charge at the front of the 2020 Okanagan College rotation. Wylsobocki is coming off a solid 2019 campaign. He posted a 1.84 Earned Run Average, racking up 41 strikeouts in 34.1 innings, propelling him to a First Team All-Conference award. Hummel had a strong 2019 season as well, setting a new program record for Earned Run Average (0.87) along with 22 strikeouts in 20.2 innings pitched.

Jared Johnson, Pitching coach for Okanagan College’s baseball team, stated, “Our pitching staff will again have a lot of depth. We lost only a couple arms from last year’s team which led the CCBC in ERA, strikeouts, and shutouts.” He continued on point out the depth of the pitching staff, “This depth will allow us to be competitive in every inning we play. We have guys that can strikeout a lot of batters, which leads to good outcomes. When you have 8-10 guys that could start in any program in the league, it is usually a good problem to have.”

Geoff White, Head coach, said, “Our pitching staff is a big part to our success and this year’s group is very talented.” White adds, “If we can stay healthy, we will be very tough over a weekend.”

Overall, the pitching staff is deep with talent with multiple impact arms available to step up for key innings out of the bullpen.

The outfield for 2020 will see Trevor Mlait (OF, Jr, West Kelowna, BC) captain the outfield in 2020. Mlait looks to build off a steady campaign in which he boasted a .328 batting average and stole 11 bases in 2019. Other outfielders competing for roles are Nolan King (OF/1B, So, Regina, SK), Ethan Loran (OF/1B, So, Oyen, AB), Chace Davidson (OF, Jr, Saskatoon, SK) and Damian Obrigewich (OF/1B, Jr, Edmonton, AB). When Mlait was asked how he hopes the team builds off last years success, he emphasized, “We have a great group of guys to build off from last year and a ton of new talent ready to contribute…” He concludes his statement looking on towards the season, “…It will be great to see [the hard work] pay off once we hit the field.”

White states, “The outfield will have some new faces, with the graduation of Davis Todosichuk and Jeremy Buckley, and it will be competitive throughout the first 12-16 games of the season to see who will perform and take a starting spot. There will be several players competing during our spring trip and it will be interesting who can separate themselves.”

With multiple spots in the outfield all but taken, outfielders will be looking to impress as the season gets rolling.

The infield will be led by Brendan Luther (INF, So, Mississauga, ON), Mike Duwyn (INF, So, Delhi, ON), Elias Erdman (1B, Jr, Quesnel, BC), Hayden Misfeldt (1B, So, Corvallis, OR). Luther had an impressive freshman year, posting a .358 batting average while making it into 24 of the possible 28 games throughout the 2019 CCBC season. Duywn will look to secure second base, with his smooth hands and great range in the field he will be difficult to compete against for the role. First basemen, Erdman and Misfeldt look to compete while splitting time at first-base to start the season, as well as look to improve on their numbers from a season ago.

Jake Fischer (C/1B, Sr, Lacombe, AB), will resume catching duties for Okanagan College. Fischer, a leader on the field and in the clubhouse, posted an impressive .368 batting average (3^rd in CCBC), driving in 32 runs (1^st in CCBC), and launching four home runs (4^th in CCBC). When asked how he feels going into the season he said, “I am feeling very confident going into this season. I have been working hard on all aspects of my game this offseason, and feel that I am going to be playing better than ever this spring.” Behind Fischer; Daniel Baydek (C, So, Calgary, AB), and Steven Butler (C, So, Coquitlam, BC) battle it out for the number two duties behind the plate. Baydek posted a .262 batting average through seven games played in 2019. Butler has yet to make it into a conference game.

White accentuates the excitement the coaching staff has for this upcoming season, “Overall as a coaching staff we are excited for this upcoming season.” He adds, “We have high expectations for this group and I know the players have high expectations. We are really looking forward to getting going on the 14^th of February and see what we can do.”

Overall, the 2020 Okanagan College Coyotes have an abundance of depth and are dedicated to competing for the 2020 CCBC championship.

February 12 the Okanagan College baseball team heads down south on their annual Vegas/Arizona trip where they will play Central Southern Nevada College (NJCAA), Central Arizona College (NJCAA), Ottawa University (NAIA). The Coyotes look to compete in preparation for their 2020 CCBC season.

The Coyotes baseball team want to wish all its players, alumni, family, friends, sponsors and fans Happy Holidays.  We have had a tremendous 2019 and very excited for what is to come in 2020.  Stay tuned for press releases in the new year that include schedule release, player bios, events and much more as we get closer and closer to the season.

Happy Holidays from your Coyotes baseball family