May 12, 2026

Hawks Struggle Against Desperate Mariners

EDMONTON, AB- The Edmonton Collegiate Hawks suffered a ‘bump’ on the road as they make their way to the conclusion of the 2026 Canadian Collegiate Baseball Conference regular season. Playing at home against the Vancouver Island Mariners, The Hawks were swept in a pair of doubleheaders at RE/MAX Field on Saturday and Sunday (May 9-10). On Saturday, the Mariners beat Edmonton 11-4 and 3-2 on Saturday with the victories coming by scores of 8-4 and 10-7 Sunday. The Mariners out scored the Collegiate Hawks 28-17 and out hit them 31-29. The Collegiate Hawks have fallen to 18-14 on the season while VIU has moved to 14-18. The Hawks close out the 2026 CCBC regular season next week (Fri May 15th against the Prairie Baseball Academy and Sunday May 17th versus the University of Calgary. Both doubleheaders at RE/MAX Field). Vancouver Island will visit Vancouver to meet the University Baseball Club of UBC. Top six teams in the CCBC will head to Lethbridge, Alberta for the Canadian championships which begin May 22nd at Spitz Stadium. SERIES SUMMARY: Game 1-Saturday, May 9-Vancouver Island University Mariners 13 Edmonton Collegiate Hawks 4__RE/MAX Field: The Mariners busted out with five runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back as they added four runs in both the sixth and ninth innings. VIU had 14 hits in the ball game and were led by #34 Trevor Nicoll who went 4 for 5 with three runs scored. #14 James Joyce was 2 for 5 with five runs batted in and two runs scored. #20 KJ Jones went six innings for his third win of the season. He surrendered three runs on four hits with a walk. #28 Jordan Bauer pitched three innings for his second save of 2026. He gave up a run on two hits and had three strike outs. #32 Logan Colville experienced his first loss in five decisions for Edmonton. He started and went five innings, giving up nine runs on five hits with six strikeouts and four walks. Offensively, 4 Carson Friesen hit a solo homer in the fifth inning and was 2 for 4 with two RBI. #29 Aldo Rojas Junior went 1 for 4 with an RBI. #55 Caedyn Colford was 1 for 3 at the dish with an RBI. Game 2-Saturday, May 9-Vancouver Island University Mariners 3 Edmonton Collegiate Hawks 2__RE/MAX Field: The Mariners completed the Saturday sweep notching single runs in the fourth, fifth and ninth innings. The Collegiate Hawks tallied both their runs in the bottom of the fourth. #21 Alex McLauchlan had a solid individual performance for VIU. He came on in relief of starter #24 Alex Klassen in the eighth inning and won his first of the year as he pitched two innings of relief giving up three hits. Offensively, McLaughlin went 2 for 5 with a run scored as a centerfielder. #41 Ayden Cote was tagged with the loss in relief. Cote pitched two innings, giving up two hits, a run and gave up a walk as his record dipped to 3 and 1 on the year. Offensively, the Mariners were led by Nicoll who was 2 for 3 with a run scored. Rojas Junior was 0 for 2 for Edmonton with a run batted in, Colford went 1 for 3 with a run scored. Designated hitters # 21 Kolbe Blackburn was 1 for 1 while #16 Jace Daku finished 1 for 2 with a run scored. Game 3-Sunday, May 10-Vancouver Island University Mariners 8 Edmonton Collegiate Hawks 4__RE/MAX Field: VIU’s Joyce was poison against the Collegiate Hawks again in this game. He had two home runs driving in six runs with three-run homers in the fifth and seventh innings. He also scored twice going 3 for 5. #19 Dillon Bowie of Spruce Grove, AB was 1 for 5 as well for the Mariners with two runs scored and an RBI. The top offensive weapon for Edmonton was Colford who hit a three-run homer (his 34th of the yeas) in the fourth inning. He was 2 for 4 with a run scored. #24 Jake Roggensack was 2 for 5 while #18 Simon Virostek went 2 for 3 with a run batted in. Collegiate Hawk starter #50 Luc Webber-Kitching fell to 2 and 3 with the loss going six and a third, giving up seven runs on seven hits, striking out eight and walking three. He has fanned 52 batters this year, that is two behind CCBC leader Ethan Webster of Calgary.. #12 Ryan Wilkie started for VIU and notched the victsory. Hes 2 and 4 on the season as he gave up four runs on four hits through six innings, striking out eight and walking two. Game 4-Sunday, May 10-Vancouver Island University Mariners_10_ Edmonton Collegiate Hawks 7 RE/MAX Field: VIU flexed their offensive muscle in the series capper. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead after a half inning and left 7-0 after two innings, pounding out 7 hits in those innings. They added three more in the third inning. McLauchlan had a two-run triple in the first inning and followed it up in the fourth with a two run homr to left center. He was 4 for 5 with five RBI and two runs scored as he hit for ‘the cycle’. Nicholl went 2 for 2 with three RBI and two runs scored. Edmonton starter #25 Nick Backstrom took the loss: going an inning and two thirds. Backstrom gave up seven runs on seven hits, striking out three and walking two. He falls to 1 and 5. # 9 Trevor Carter earned his first victory of the season. Carter was the second of five Mariner pitchers. He went three and two third innings, throwing a three hit, one run game while striking out three and walking two. For the Collegiate Hawks: Friesen was 1 for 2 with an RBI. #2 Colby Tessier went 1 for 3 with a run scored.Reliever # 27 Talon Lazeruk had a game high six strikeouts in three and two thirds innings of work, giving up one hit and walking one. Lazaruk was one of five Edmonton pitchers. “One of the positives of the day, “said Lanferman. “Being a freshman, he did an extremely great job. He gave us some energy to the bench coming out of the pen. “ COMMENTS FROM COACH JAKE LANFERMAN: “I thought we had quality starts out of two of our four starters this weekend. Even our bullpen in our final game on Sunday gave us a lot of zeros to give us a chance to cut the deficit. We are seeing a lot of great things out of our pitching staff. These are the ‘dog days’ . We are working through injuries. Our bats have not where we want them to be.” NEXT UP FOR THE COLLEGIATE HAWKS: The Collegiate Hawks next hit the field on Friday May 15th when they host the Prairie Baseball Academy Dawgs at RE/MAX Field. It’s a doubleheader starting at 1 PM MDT. The teams met just over a month ago in Lethbridge, Alberta where PBA took three of four from the Hawks. PBA enters next weekend with a 23-9 record and took three of four with Thompson Rivers University this weekend (May 9-10). “This will be a big series for us,” Lanferman explains. “We will have a few hard practices to prepare for them.” Edmonton concludes regular season play Sunday May 17th hosting the University of Calgary Dinos .