The Victoria HarbourCats are a summer-collegiate baseball team located in Victoria, British Columbia . The HarbourCats play in the West Coast League (WCL), a collegiate summer baseball league . The team's home games are played at Victoria's Royal Athletic Park .
22-500: The HarbourCats were founded in 2012 as an expansion team. On October 12, 2012, the team announced it would be called the HarbourCats after a public naming contest was held that received more than 600 submissions. The Victoria HarbourCats entered the league with play in the 2013 season and went 22–32, missing the playoffs. A total of 38,793 fans attended home games. The Victoria HarbourCats went 25–29 in their 2nd season of play in
44-583: A game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic . Lukes was named to the Rays' 2021 Spring Training roster as a non-roster invitee. He spent the entirety of the 2021 season with Durham, playing in 85 games and batting .303/.352/.456 with 4 home runs and 44 RBI. On November 29, 2021, Lukes signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and
66-744: A trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in return for Brandon Guyer . Lukes started the 2017 season in Charlotte before being promoted to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits after six games. Lukes returned to Montgomery in 2018, playing in 115 games and batting .278/.331/.400 with 6 home runs, 51 RBI, and 9 stolen bases. Lukes played for the Triple-A Durham Bulls in 2019, where he batted .219/.294/.319 with four home runs and 31 RBI in 91 games. He did not play
88-805: The Sacramento State Hornets for three seasons. He was named All- Western Athletic Conference (WAC) after hitting .347 with 26 RBIs and 54 runs scored in his sophomore season. After the season, Lukes played collegiate summer baseball for the Victoria HarbourCats in the West Coast League . He repeated as a first team All-WAC selection as a junior after batting for a .345 average with 81 total hits, seven home runs, 38 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases. Lukes finished his collegiate career as Sacramento State's all-time hit leader with 244. The Cleveland Indians selected Lukes in
110-626: The All-WCL team after the season. On July 17, Koen Van't Klooster was named pitcher of the week. The Falcons are currently 4th in the north division with a 9-7 record and 2.5 games behind the division leading Bells. 6,844 total fans have attended for an average of 978 per game. On July 9th, Trey Duffield and Gavyn Jones were selected to represent the Falcons in the All Star Game. The Falcons failed to improve on their 31-23 record from
132-599: The Division Series by the AppleSox 0-2. 1,132 total fans attended Kelowna's only home game in the playoffs. The Falcons failed to make it to the postseason for the second straight season finishing 7th in the north division with a record of 20-33 and 13 games behind the division winning Bellingham Bells. The Falcons saw 22,722 total fans for an average of 947 per game. Jasper Nelson (Sacramento State) and Nick Woodcock (Yavapai College) received honorable mentions in
154-599: The MLB draft. As of 2017, 14 were playing in an MLB team's organization. In the early part of the 2021 season, two former HarbourCats made their debuts - Alex De Goti for the Houston Astros and Andrew Vaughn for the Chicago White Sox . Opening Day 2023, 2014 Harbourcat Nathan Lukes made his debut. Listed below are all former HarbourCats players who have played in a Major League Baseball game, alongside
176-620: The Nanaimo market, playing out of Serauxmen Stadium, in 2021. Lights and other stadium upgrades are expected to be completed before the new team can play. On April 30, 2017, Nick Pivetta became the first former HarbourCats player to reach the major leagues when the right-hander started for the Philadelphia Phillies against the Washington Nationals. Following 2017, 40 HarbourCats players have been selected in
198-539: The Pacific International League. During their tenure the Grizzlies won the 1995 league championship. Following the 1998 the club suspended operations. The franchise was sold in 2000 and rebranded as the Falcons. Kelowna continued this membership with the Pacific International League playing from 2000 through 2004. In 2005 the Falcons along with Bellingham , Bend , Spokane, and Wenatchee left
220-448: The WCL. Victoria set the record for the most at-bats by a whole team having 1937 at bats in just one season. Victoria drew 45,571 fans through the gates in 30 home games, averaging about 1,576 fans a night. This put Victoria first in WCL attendance in the 2014 season. The HarbourCats went 29–24 in their 3rd season of play in the WCL. Victoria led the league with a team total of 36 home runs on
242-542: The Wenatchee AppleSox 2–1 in games in the northern division series, and advanced to the WCL championship final series versus the Corvallis Knights, but lost that series 2–1 in games. The HarbourCats 2020 regular season, their eighth, was scheduled to begin at home on June 5, 2020. The worldwide COVID-19 crisis forced the cancellation of the 2020 WCL season. On July 17th, Tyler Davis (Fresno State)
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#1732787747885264-577: The first time in franchise history, and the first time for a Victoria-based baseball team since 1954. The pennant was clinched in Victoria on June 30 in front of a WCL-record crowd of 5,133. Between June 5 and July 1, the team won a WCL-record 19 consecutive games. Attendance increased for the fourth straight year to an average of 2,239 per game, which ranked ninth in North America among summer league clubs. The HarbourCats finished 29-25 and reached
286-560: The league to form the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCBL). The Falcons finished second in the East Division with a 22-26 record. Pitcher Dayne Quist lead the league with an ERA of 1.40 and finished with 50 strikeouts and six wins on the mound. Ben Edlestein finished with a batting average of .347. 16,027 fans attended games for an average of 668 per game. The Falcons were swept in
308-536: The playoffs for the second consecutive season, winning the WCL's North Division Second Half Pennant on the season's final day. They would go on to win the franchise's first-ever playoff game and series over the Kelowna Falcons , qualifying for their first-ever WCL Championship Series, where they would fall in three games to the Corvallis Knights . The HarbourCats finished 27-27 and failed to reach
330-488: The playoffs. With an attendance of 3,076 at their final home game, the HarbourCats beat their own WCL attendance regular-season attendance of 60,466, by welcoming a total of 62,599 fans through the gates of Wilson's Group Stadium in 2018. The HarbourCats 2019 regular season, their seventh, began in June 2019. On July 7, 2019, the team qualified for the playoffs, their third playoff appearance in franchise history. The team beat
352-679: The previous season posting a 20-34 record and finishing sixth in the north division 15 games behind the division leading AppleSox. 23,776 fans attended home games for an average of 914 per game. The Falcons failed to make the postseason. Nathan Lukes Nathan Donald Lukes (born July 12, 1994) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023. Lukes grew up in Antelope, California and attended Center High School . He enrolled at California State University, Sacramento and played college baseball for
374-634: The season(s) in which they played for the HarbourCats: Kelowna Falcons The Kelowna Falcons are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Kelowna , British Columbia . The Falcons are members of the West Coast League and play their home games at Elks Stadium . The franchise traces its roots back to the Kelowna Grizzlies, who were founded in 1993. The Grizzlies were members of
396-470: The season. Victoria drew 49,647 fans through the gates in 26 home games, averaging 1,910 fans a night, a mark which led the West Coast League in attendance for the second straight season. The HarbourCats set a WCL record for wins in a single season, finishing with a 40-14 regular season mark. They won the WCL's North Division First Half Pennant with a 23–4 record, qualifying for the playoffs for
418-692: The seventh round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft . After signing with the team he was assigned to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers , where he played in five games before missing the rest of the season after breaking his right hand. He began the 2016 season with the Single–A Lake County Captains before being promoted to the High–A Lynchburg Hillcats . On August 1, 2016, the Indians included Lukes in
440-589: The team in a civil claim, part of a larger lawsuit involving his other interests, in BC Supreme Court in the Fall 2014, taken over by the Bhootan Group, led by Matthew Stoudt. Bhootan would then sell the team to local ownership led by John Wilson, Jim Swanson, Ken Swanson and Rich Harder, who took care of local debts. In February 2019, team ownership announced plans to operate an additional WCL team in
462-647: Was invited to spring training. Lukes played in 111 games for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons , hitting .285/.364/.425 with 11 home runs, 61 RBI, and 20 stolen bases. On November 10, 2022, the Blue Jays added Lukes to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft . On March 28, 2023, Lukes was announced as the final member of Toronto's Opening Day roster. In 29 games for Toronto, he batted .192/.290/.308 with no home runs and two RBI. Lukes
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#1732787747885484-741: Was named player of the week. On July 9th, Carson Cormier and Tate Shimao were selected to represent the HarbourCats in the 2024 All Star Game in Bellingham. The HarbourCats made the playoffs for the fourth straight season as a wildcard. The HarbourCats faced the AppleSox in the Divisional Series for the second year in a row. The HarbourCats would win game one 4-2 in Victoria, but would lose games two and three in Wenatchee. Founder and original owner John McLean, who had changed GMs with Holly Jones leaving and Jim Swanson coming in, would lose
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