UBC Thunderbird Baseball Fan Page

The following Thunderbirds are playing for Canada in the World University Baseball Championship in Japan: Shawn Hetherington, Sheldon McDonald, Eric Brown, Brandon Kaye, Taylor King, Blake Carruthers, Nic Lendvoy, and Greg Densem. Cav Whitely is an assistant coach. Canada's first game is July 30, against Chinese Taipei.

Eric Brown is playing for the Thunder Bay Border Cats of the Northwoods League. As of July 19, he is 3-1, 1.29 ERA (fourth best in the league). He was on the roster for the All-Star game, but didn't play because of a travel commitment for the World University Baseball Championship.

The Thunderbirds are, as in the past, providing a substantial amount of talent for the Western Major Baseball League.

Okotoks Dawgs: Dan Britton-Foster, Brandon Kaye, David Otterman. As of July 19, Britton-Foster is 4-1, 1.39 ERA, and Otterman is 2-2, 3.12 ERA.

Medicine Hat Mavericks:  Shawn Hetherington, Geoff Burke. As of July 19, Burke is 4-3, 3.05 ERA, and Hetherington is 3-1, 3.55 ERA.

Melville Millionaires: Nick Senior

Saskatoon Yellow Jackets: Blake Carruthers, Andrew Firth

Yorkton Cardinals:  Jordan Herbison, Nic Lindsay

Andrew Madsen and Sebastian Wong are playing for the Kelowna Jays.

Ed Cheff, head coach at Lewis-Clark State for 34 years, is stepping down effective September 1. Story at The College Baseball Blog: Lewis-Clark State Coach Ed Cheff to retire.

His replacement is Gary Picone, a native of Trail, BC. Picone is currently the Athletic Director at L-C State, and is also the Tournament Director for the NAIA Baseball National Championship. He will be giving up the Tournament Director job, but remain as AD.

The Douglas College ‐ Centre for Campus Life is pleased to announce that Cavanagh Whitely has been named the Head Coach for the Royals Men’s Baseball Program.

Coach Whitely is a native of Prince George, BC and just completed his 10th season as a part of the UBC Thunderbirds baseball program. He has worked the last 7 years as a specialist coach in charge of infield, offensive systems development, and the Thunderbirds mental skills training program.

From 2004-2010, Whitely served as the full-time assistant to head coach Terry McKaig and was a integral part of UBC’s impressive run to a fourth-place finish at the NAIA World Series in 2006. It was the first time a Canadian team ever competed for a US National Championship. He was also the head of recruiting for the T-Birds, the facility coordinator and head instructor of the Mizuno School of Baseball at UBC, and the organizer for the UBC summer camp program.

Whitely is also highly involved in community baseball programs. The Coaching Association of Canada awarded him a position as a High Performance Consultant with Baseball BC in 2005, and he is currently a coach with both Team BC and the National University team program that competes during the summer. He has coached with Team Canada from 2003- 2006 at the Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament and at the 2008 and 2010 World University Championships. Cavanagh is also an active Baseball BC NCCP level four clinician and evaluator.

 “I’m looking forward to taking over the Royals Baseball program here at Douglas College. The NWAACC is a very competitive conference that gives Canadian ball players a great opportunity to showcase their skills. Our goal here will be to develop student-athletes to meet their potential on and off the field and allow them to move on to quality four year programs or even on to the professional ranks.”

As a player, Whitely was recruited by the National Baseball Institute and started his college career at Douglas under Coach John Haar. After two solid seasons there, he transferred and spent three successful years on the UBC squad from 1999-2002, playing every infield position while holding down a career batting average of over .300. Whitely has also spent time in the Australia pro league, playing for the Padres organization in Queensland from 2002 to 2003 while concurrently serving as a Director of Coaching and Development Officer for Baseball Australia.

“Cavanagh brings a wealth of experience and expertise in dealing with student-athletes both as a coach and as a faculty member at Douglas with the Student Success courses.  We look forward in having him bring his knowledge to, an already vibrant coaching staff at the College.” stated Dean Howie the Director of Athletics and Campus Life.

Cavanagh currently lives in Vancouver and has his Master’s Degree in Human Kinetics from the University of British Columbia.

Douglas College Royals Baseball page

Thunderbirds

NAIA West and Lewis-Clark State

BC players

The Thunderbirds did not have the highest fielding percentage in the NAIA this season. That honour went to Union University in Tennessee, who had a percentage of .977. The Birds finished second to Union, with a percentage of .975.

This year, however, the Birds were not left off the national Rawlings-NAIA Gold Glove team. Birds center fielder Blake Carruthers made the team, in his first year of eligibility. (He made the team as a right fielder, although he played in center field all season.) Blake fielded 1.000 for the season, had 92 putouts and three assists.

Another recognizable name on the team is 3B Josh Ashenbrenner of Lewis-Clark State.

The Thunderbirds were done in by a brilliant performance by RHP Chad Blauer of the Sea Lions, who went one out short of a complete game, allowed only six hits (two of them in the ninth inning), and struck out 16.

The Birds didn't get on the scoreboard until the sixth inning, when SS Sammie Starr hit a solo home run. The Sea Lions led 5-1 at that point, and they added to their lead with a run in the bottom of the sixth, and three in the bottom of the eighth.

Blauer started the ninth inning by striking out LF Nick Senior and CF Blake Carruthers. So, the last comeback attempt of the season started with two outs, and eight runs behind. 1B Andrew Firth hit a single, and pinch-hitter Kevin Nickel drew a walk on nine pitches. Pinch-hitter Christian Jolley batted next, and he hit a single to bat in two runs. Blauer was replaced by Robby Ross; he got 2B Alex White to hit a ground ball, and Jolley was forced out at second to end the game and send the Sea Lions to Lewiston.

Starr was 3-4 for the game, and Firth was 2-4.

Brandon Kaye started, went 3 1/3 innings, and allowed four runs (two of them unearned) on four hits. Andrew Ledger pitched 2/3rds of an inning, allowed one run on one hit. Taylor King pitched two innings, allowed one run on one hit. David Otterman pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowed one hit. Shawn Hetherington gave up those three runs in the eighth, one of which was unearned.