UBC Thunderbird Baseball Fan Page

Cory Stuart - Photo by Bob Broughton

The 2006 University of British Columbia Alumni game was entertaining, and included some good defensive plays, but the star of the show was clearly Yankee farmhand and Canadian Olympian Cory Stuart.

A relief pitcher in real life, Stuart played left field and shortstop on this occasion. He got two hits, and made a couple of very good defensive plays at shortstop. UBC Assistant Coach Cavanagh Whitely said, "Somebody should call up George Steinbrenner and let him know that there's somebody in his organization that can hit."

Stuart spent most of the 2006 season with the Class A Charleston Riverdogs, and was named to the South Atlantic League all-star team. His season with the Riverdogs was cut short when he was called upon to pitch for the Canadian Olympic Team in a qualifying tournament in Havana. He made three appearances in the tournament, one of them against the US.

Interviewed after his Alumni game action, Stuart said that the next round of Olympic qualifying for Canada would be sometime in March, in Taiwan. This is during spring training, but Stuart said that the Yankees organization has gotten better at letting players go for international competition like this. If Stuart is selected to play in Taiwan, he probably won't get a lot of advance notice. His performance in Havana probably had no effect on his standing in the Yankees organization. Although minor-league players get very little information about where they are likely to be playing next season, Stuart is hoping to be moved up to the "advanced A" team in Tampa.

Celebration after Chris Ames robbed major league star Jeff Francis of a hit

Colorado Rockies LHP Jeff Francis, who played centre field, also hit the ball hard a couple of times, but one ball went directly to the centre fielder, and he was robbed of a hit by second baseman Chris Ames, who at the time was dressed for a night at the Roxy instead of for baseball.

The other pro ball player present was Brooks McNiven, a right-handed starter who has played for the class A San Jose Giants for the past three seasons. Spending three seasons with the same minor league team is unusual, and McNiven said that this could be either good or bad. The good part is that he is still playing pro ball. Like most of his teammates, McNiven billets in San Jose, due to the high cost of housing there. He also had good things to say about his teammate Tim Lincecum, a first-round draft pick out of the University of Washington.

The turnout for this event was so good that the players were divided into three teams, Old, Middle-age, and Young. Stuart, Francis, and McNiven all played for the Middle-age team, which had four left-handers in the infield much of the time. They played three five-inning games. The first game, between the Middle-age and Young teams, ended in a 1-1 tie. The second game, between, the Old and Middle-age teams, was also a time, 2-2. The Old team won the last game was 8-4, and the winning run came on a solo home run by Wayne Vickers in the top of the fifth. The Old team has now won this event three straight times.

The pitchers for the Old team were Mike Lazaruk, Ryan Berrecloth, Greg Hayes, and Shane Bascom. Cavanagh Whitely, Brent Mutis, Conor Whitely, Ben Herman, and Dan Osachoff pitched for the Middle-age team. (Whitely, whose only pitching experience has been in batting practice, was throwing some nasty stuff.) Brad Ashman, Richard Smythe, Davey Wallace, Tyler Hughes, Johnny Yiu, Chris Ames, Jordy McNiven, and Matt Miller pitched for the Young team. Smythe, Wallace, and Hughes never pitched as under-graduates. Neither did Yiu, but Yiu pitched for Whalley at the 1997 Little League World Series.