September 15, 2021

Official Okotoks Dawgs News Release

As Canadian baseball star Larry Walker expressed in the course of his recent Hall of Fame induction at Cooperstown, N.Y., it is a life-long dream of any athlete to be given the honour of representing his or her home country and one that many will never have the privilege to experience.

For five Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Academy athletes, that dream became a reality this month when they were selected to Canada’s Junior National Team for the Friendship Series vs Team USA in Bradenton, Florida.

With five players selected to the prestigious National Team, the Dawgs enjoyed greater representation than any other program in the country. The five Dawgs players chosen were:

● Carson Hindmarsh (committed to the University of Tennessee),

● Boston Warkentin (committed to the University of Washington),

● Matt Grabmann (committed to University of Oregon),

● Ty Doucette (committed to Oregon State University) and

● Max Hartman (committed to Washington State University).

With the return to play this past summer of Canada’s premier summer collegiate circuit, the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL), following a year off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, these Dawgs players along with the two top Dawgs Academy teams benefited from the opportunity to “play up” against some of the best Canadian college players thereby continuing to develop their game. This experience undoubtedly contributed to the players’ success with Team Canada.

Over the course of the Friendship Series, the Dawgs made their presence known on Team Canada, particularly on the mound. Carson Hindmarsh, Matt Grabmann and Boston Warkentin were dominant against top prospects from the USA, combining to pitch 12 1/3 innings while allowing only one earned run on nine hits and striking out 16 batters. Among position players, both Max Hartman and Ty Doucette chipped in with base-hits and put together quality at-bats against several future top MLB draft selections.

These recent Dawgs players join a long list of Dawgs to wear the red and white of Canada’s National Teams from the Junior and Senior National Teams to Canada’s Olympic Team to Canada’s University Games Team and to the Major League Baseball stars selected to Team Canada at the prestigious World Baseball Classic.