Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast

Episode 188: WCBL All-Star Game Spectacular

Words probably can’t describe the feeling everyone had Saturday night after witnessing the Western Canadian Baseball League’s All-Star Game festivities in Okotoks. A crowd of 6,000+ people, the players and coaches enjoying every minute of it, some incredible moments of baseball, fireworks at the end, and a million memories made, and it feels like we’re just scratching the surface. Make sure to head to albertadugoutstories.com for the game story and photo gallery that we posted earlier this week. We have plenty more stories to come in the days ahead. Here on the podcast, instead of one guest telling us the story of the day, we have a series of shorter interviews done before and after the game, to help capture the day’s events. Listen in to hear from Matt Wolff of the Brooks Bombers, Braden DeSonia of the Medicine Hat Mavericks, McCoy Pearce and Micah McDowell of the Okotoks Dawgs, Weyburn Beavers slugger Nolan Machibroda, and Sylvan Lake Gulls infielder and All-Star Game MVP Ethan Ho.

Episode 187: Drafted - Matt Coutney

Three days. 30 teams. 20 rounds. 616 baseball prospects chosen in the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft. Among them, 15 Canadians including two from Alberta. Dawgs Academy product and Oregon State catcher Gavin Logan went in the ninth round, 258th overall to the Arizona Diamondbacks, while St. FX Academy product and Old Dominion University first baseman Matt Coutney was taken in the tenth round, 298th overall by the Los Angeles Angels. Congratulations to all for taking the next step in your baseball journey. And congratulations as well to those who will undoubtedly get free agent contracts in the days and weeks ahead, just like Vauxhall Academy grad and UBC slugger Ty Penner did with the Philadelphia Phillies. For this week’s episode of the podcast, we catch up with one of the three recently-signed Albertans. We got to know Coutney on Episode #176, talking about his baseball journey and his stellar season at ODU, where he was one of the nation’s top home-run hitters this season. And he really actually started heating up in April after inserting a contact lens that he had been prescribed but didn’t think would make a big difference. We caught up this week to talk about getting drafted, the process as a whole, and what it meant to him and some of his biggest fans.

Episode 186: Nathan Stark

It’s been a long couple of years without WCBL baseball in a trio of Alberta communities. Over the past few episodes, we’ve chatted with hometown athletes Dax Wandler of the Brooks Bombers and Sean Dunn of the Fort McMurray Giants about coming back this season and the excitement in their respective communities. The third team to return is the Medicine Hat Mavericks and who better to talk about to than Nathan Stark. The Medicine Hat product grew up coming to Mavericks games, and has had the fortune of being with the team since 2017, including their 2018 championship run. While those years were special, this year is even more sweet as he has his brothers, Josh and Zach, on the roster as well. In fact, as we record this episode, they’ve all been on the field at the same time on a couple of occasions. Nathan is the eldest brother who played his high school ball with the McCoy Colts before moving onto Colby Community College, LSU-Shreveport and Doane University. It’s been quite the journey for the 6-foot-3, 171-pound right-hander, who joined us earlier this week to talk all about it.

Episode 185: Sean Dunn

Talk about a homecoming for Sean Dunn. The Fort McMurray product has been chomping at the bit to get back onto the field with his hometown Giants in the Western Canadian Baseball League for a while now, as the pandemic got in the way of their return in 2020 and 2021. The Giants are in a dogfight for a playoff spot in the West Division, hoping to get there for the first time since entering the league in 2016. Dunn remembers those early years, and believes the team has what it takes to turn up the heat in the second half of the season. The 6-3, 185-pound hurler knows a thing or two about winning, as he is fresh off helping Okanagan College capture the Canadian College Baseball Conference title this spring. We talked about all of that earlier this week, as well as what it means to him to give back to his hometown’s baseball community and much more.

Episode 184: Justin King

Justin King might be the king of self-awareness. As a young multi-sport athlete, he admits he realized one day he wasn’t the fastest skater, so he decided to focus on playing baseball. A gifted hitter growing up in Okotoks, King decided to try pitching in his final college season at the University of Louisiana-Monroe in Spring 2021. As his Twitter bio states: “couldn’t hit 95 so now we a pitcher.” While some might have bristled at making that move, he faced it head-on and it has paid off in a big way. In early-June, the 6-1, 215-pound southpaw signed a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, where he’s already made his way to the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers alongside fellow Dawgs Academy grad Tristan Peters and Canadian Tyler Black. We caught up with King during a recent off-day to talk about what has turned into quite the chapter in his baseball journey and more.

Episode 183: Dax Wandler

It’s been a long road back to the diamond for Dax Wandler. The Brooks Bombers infielder last appeared in the Western Canadian Baseball League in 2019, hitting .242 with a home run and five RBI for his hometown team. He needed surgery following that season, but hit some roadblocks along the way. The 5-10, 160-pound COVID freshman is finally back on the field and hoping to turn a few heads so he can catch on with a collegiate program in the fall. Wandler checked in with us a couple weeks ago to walk us through his baseball journey, the recuperation from his injury and much more.

Episode 182: Fisticuffs at Foothills

The Battle of Alberta might be one of the most heated rivalries in all of pro sports. The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have hated each other from the very beginning. That rivalry not only transcends hockey, but sports in general as well. When it comes to baseball, any time Alberta’s two largest cities face each other, it’s bound to have fireworks. Never was that more prevalent than on June 13th, 2006. The Northern League’s Calgary Vipers were hosting the Edmonton Cracker-Cats at Foothills Stadium when one of the most infamous brawls in baseball history broke out. Our Ian Wilson has wanted to tell the story for a few years now, and after a lot of hard work and research, published his newest story to mark the anniversary. Cracker-Cats starter Reggie Rivard joins us on the podcast to talk about how it all went down, what he remembers, and how he ended up with the most-severe suspension.

Episode 181: JUCO World Series Champions

There have been plenty of great storylines about Alberta baseball products doing big things in US college programs this spring. One of those has been watching two Dawgs Academy products help Central Arizona College claim the Junior College World Series. Tyrese Johnson hit .340 with a pair of homers, 23 runs batted in and nine stolen bases, while Matt Wilkinson went 5-2 with two saves and a 1.87 ERA to go along with 85 strikeouts in just 53 innings. We caught up with both of them this week to recap their championship season.

Episode 180: Brendan Luther

No rest for the wicked if the wicked’s name is Brendan Luther. The Ontario product who now calls Western Canada home spent the spring at Okanagan College, where he hit .426 with two homers, 26 runs batted in, 48 runs scored and six stolen bases en route to being named a Canadian Collegiate Baseball Conference First-Team All-Star. He then packed his bags as the Coyotes headed to Lethbridge, where he hit .385 with two doubles and two RBI as Okanagan ran the table to claim the CCBC World Series. Why did he pack his bags? Because the 6-1, 190-pound infielder headed straight up to Okotoks to report to the Dawgs for the start of the Western Canadian Baseball League season. It’s a change of scenery for Luther, who spent the past couple of seasons with the Edmonton Prospects. We talked about the expected chirps from that move, his baseball journey and much more in this recent conversation. (Image credit: Brent Calver/OkotoksTODAY)

Episode 179: Play Ball!

The 2022 Western Canadian Baseball League season is upon us! We've been showcasing the Alberta teams with previews on our website, and the architect who has been writing them, ADS co-founder Ian Wilson, joins us to talk about what has him excited about a full slate of games and teams for the upcoming season. We also check in with WCBL president Kevin Kvame, and chat about some of the other big storylines heading into the summer.

Episode 178: Cassie Matlock

Cassie Matlock has been willing to do anything and go anywhere to play softball. Growing up in Edmonton, there weren’t a ton of options for her, so she went wherever she could to get noticed. Eventually, Matlock landed on her feet at Lindsey Wilson College, where her team made it to the NAIA World Series and she was named to the All-Tournament Team, amongst a host of other honours. She then moved onto the University of West Alabama, where she continued to dominate. The 5-foot-9 outfielder just put the wraps on her senior season, and is on her way back to Alberta. We caught up with Matlock earlier this week to talk about her award-winning season, the trials and tribulations of being a student-athlete, and her hopes of helping grow the game in her home province.

Episode 177: Noah Geekie

Athletic excellence is in the genes of the Geekie family. Three brothers – Morgan, Noah and Conor – grew up playing hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer. While Morgan and Conor stuck with hockey when it was time to follow one path, Noah decided to chase the baseball dream. He moved to Okotoks to attend Dawgs Academy, is about to play in his third summer with the Western Canadian Baseball League Dawgs, and after a successful two years at Barton Community College, just wrapped up his second season with the NCAA Division II Emporia State University Hornets. He’s a two-way threat, going 6-2 with a save and a 5.04 ERA in 14 outings, starting the year as a reliever before excelling as a starter. He also hit .315 with a homer, 13 runs batted in and six stolen bases in 33 games. The 6-3, 195-pound junior took some time this week to chat about his journey, growing up in that athletic household and coming back to his home away from home this summer with Okotoks.