March 19, 2026

Edmonton Collegiate Hawks Set To Open 2026 CCBC Season

EDMONTON, AB—The curtain goes up on the 2026 Canadian Collegiate Baseball Conference regular season tomorrow (Mar 20), with the Edmonton Collegiate Hawks set to open their campaign in Abbotsford, BC against the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades. The teams will play four games including a doubleheader on Saturday (Mar 21). The Hawks finished seventh in the CCBC last season with a record of 12-20. Fraser Valley was the regular season champion in 2025 with a 21-11 record, that was nine games ahead of Edmonton. The Hawks are coming off exhibition games in Kamloops and Vancouver BC against Thompson Rivers University and the CCBC’s newest franchise: the University Baseball Club at UBC. E.C.H came away with four wins in seven contests. Jake Lanferman enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Hawks with his main assistant being Levi Moon who is into his third campaign with the organization. “I thought our preseason was exceptional,” says Lanferman. “Considering the weather, to get seven of our eight games in was huge for us after being indoor all winter. Usually, the first time outdoors takes a couple of games to get going but I really liked how we swung it at TRU (61 hits in those 5 games, 21 of those being for extra bases including a franchise record five homers).” He adds “The guys came out aggressive in the box and I thought we had a solid approach. At UBC, I felt we got away from that approach slightly but our pitching kept us in the games long enough to give our offense a chance to come around.” Lanferman credited #15 Emerson Selby and #5 Sam Honke specifically for having outstanding pre seasons. Selby was 7 for 13 with doubles, two homers, a triple and 5 RBI’s (.538 avg, 1.879 OPS). Honke pitched 5.1 innings, giving up two hits, one earned run while striking out eight and not giving up a run. Edmonton has two fifth year players on its roster: infielder #51 Kyo Sakaguchi and #25 Nick Backstrom. The Collegiate Hawks have seven fourth year players, 12 third year players, 11 second year players and six first year players. Comparing the Collegiate Hawks 2026 style to last year, Lanferman has his assessment: “ I think our two biggest improvements this year have been our offense and with our leadership core. We have a really good group this year and its an evenly dispersed group of freshmen to seniors who are eager to make a comeback.” Pre-season Canadian Collegiate Baseball Conference Polls have Edmonton ranked fifth by Battery Media and fourth by the coaches. Their opponents In Fraser Valley are ranked second in both those surveys. How seriously does Lanferman consider them? “It is a hard thing to predict how teams will be as teams have a lot of turnover. I think we have put ourselves in a great spot to be competing year in, year out with teams like UFV, PBA (Prairie Baseball Academy), OC (Okanagan College) and TRU who all finish atop of the standings on a regular basis. We strive to be one of those programs. We had a down year in 2025 by our standards. It’s great to see our peers still view us right there with them.” The Hawks will spend next week on the road as well with doubleheaders set for March 28-29 at Wilson’s Group Stadium in Victoria, BC against Victoria Collegiate. Their first appearance at REMAX field will be April 4th when the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs will be in Edmonton for four games. EXTRA INNINGS: The Collegiate Hawks will send sophomore Lucas Webber-Kitching to the hill on Friday (Mar 20). Two seniors-Honke and Logan Colville get the ball on Saturday (Mar 21). It will be the first CCBC starts for both. Freshman #Quinn Boreen gets his first start on Sunday (Mar 22). Fans should note that the CCBC has expanded to nine teams with the addition of UBC. That prompted the expansion of the conference schedule from 32 games to 36 games. Each team will play a balanced home and home schedule over two years, with the exception of an extra 2 games against programs 2 closest opponents each year. The regular season runs until May 17th. With the playoffs—featuring only six teams—in the Canadian College World Series ---set for May 22-25th at Spitz Stadium in Lethbridge. Three of the nine CCBC teams will not qualify for the championship tournament, which is a change from previous years where every team qualified