The Nanaimo NightOwls have signed four local prospects to their roster for the upcoming WCL season. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

LOCAL FLAIR

NightOwls sign four Nanaimo products ahead of debut season

Jan 27, 2022 | 2:56 PM

NANAIMO — Vancouver Island’s newest high-level baseball team will have some extra local flavour.

Nanaimo NightOwls have signed five more players, four from Nanaimo as they continue to build their roster out ahead of an eventual debut season, once delayed the pandemic.

Pitcher Josh Laukkanen and infielder Tim Holyk are set to rejoin the team after initially being part of the 2021 roster which never got the chance to take the field.

Both previously played for the Parksville Royals.

“I’m especially happy to add a pitching staff leader like Josh Laukkanen, who got WCL season and playoff experience with the Victoria HarbourCats in 2019 before he moved up to D-1 baseball in New Mexico State,” Jim Swanson, NightOwls GM, said in a release.

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The other local additions include fellow Parksville Royal pitcher Seth Gurr and Mid-Island Pirates infielder Aaron Marsh.

Gurr recorded 59 strikeouts in 33 innings in the BC Premier Baseball League in his most recent season, while Marsh played college baseball last spring, hitting .326 in 48 games.

The NightOwls also announced the addition of Victoria pitcher Hayden Wilcox.

Barring further pandemic restrictions, the team will start their inaugural season on the road in Portland on May 31 before debuting at Serauxmen Stadium on Friday, June 3 against Edmonton.

The season runs through to the first week of August with playoffs from Aug. 9 through Aug. 20.

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