Nanaimo, home of the 13th West Coast Baseball League team

JOINT NEWS RELEASE - Distributed March 5, 2020 3:15 PM

Today, Nanaimo City Council and Serauxmen Stadium Society welcomed the "to-be-named" 13th West Coast League (WCL) baseball team, who will call Serauxmen Stadium home starting June of 2021.

The Nanaimo team will be owned by the same company that successfully operates the Victoria HarbourCats at Wilson’s Group Stadium in Royal Athletic Park, Victoria.

The Nanaimo WCL team will be part of the summer collegiate baseball league which currently has 12 teams, including Canadian entries in Victoria and Kelowna. This level of baseball will be the highest Nanaimo has ever seen with 27 regular season games plus additional non-league and playoff games.

“This is an exciting day for us all. It has been in the works for a few years and going to be a great new addition to the Nanaimo sports scene,” said John Wilson, the team’s Vice-President/Business.

The Nanaimo WCL team has unveiled a new website that will contain information on tickets and more at www.nanaimobaseball.com along with a Name-The-Team Contest.

This month the City is installing lighting at the historic Serauxmen Stadium and other improvements will follow. The improvements will benefit all user groups, including the Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association, the Coal Miners senior program, the Pirates of the BC Premier Baseball League, the VIU Mariners team and the new Nanaimo WCL Baseball Club, who have all been involved throughout this process.

“What an amazing addition to our Third Street Sport Zone!" said Mayor Leonard Krog, "We are so pleased to welcome the West Coast League to Nanaimo and can't wait to hear cheers from the big crowds watching this level of baseball at Serauxmen Stadium."

“We have so many people to thank, beginning with previous and current Nanaimo City council, City staff and the entire board led by Lorne Goodall and Dan Rogers guiding the transformation of Serauxmen Stadium,” said Jim Swanson. “Mike Holyk and minor baseball, the people with the Coal Miners,the leadership of VIU and the Pirates have all been instrumental and are excited to see it moving ahead. We look forward to reviewing great ideas submitted by the community on what to name the team and having people select their seats for 2021 and beyond. As a group, we’d love nothing more to see Nanaimo’s WCL team and the HarbourCats meet in the playoffs.”

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