The Cascades baseball program, also known as the ‘Scades, is one of the most storied programs in UFV sports history. After joining the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) in 2017, the ‘Scades have taken home two Canadian College World Series titles in 2019 and 2024.
The 2025 season was a great run for UFV as they finished atop the CCBC standings with a record of 21-11 and went into the playoffs as the number one seeded team. Unfortunately, the ‘Scades’ quest for a third championship would fall short as they would lose to Thompson Rivers University by a score of 17-2 in the semi-finals.Â
Now in 2026, UFV is looking to take back their rightful place at the top of the CCBC standings and go for their second championship in three seasons. The ‘Scades first opponent of the year was the Edmonton Collegiate Hawks. The Hawks struggled in 2025, finishing second-last in the CCBC standings with a record of 12-20. And while Edmonton’s record last year was not impressive, they should not be taken lightly as an opponent as the ‘Scades learned the hard way on opening weekend.
In the home opener, UFV ace Kam Sparrowhawk had a tough start to the season. Sparrowhawk started strong and tossed three scoreless innings before Edmonton Collegiate would put up seven earned runs on the ‘Scades starter, ending his night in the fourth inning as the Hawks would go on to add two more runs to take a 9-0 lead.
 Despite a three-hit performance on the day from Nicolas Cleland and a four-run seventh inning, the ‘Scades would not be able to overcome the fourth-inning deficit and dropped the opener of the four-game series by a score of 11-5.
Coming off a disappointing start to the season, the ‘Scades would turn the tides in the series with elite performances in Saturday’s double-header.
UFV pitchers Mathew Picheniuk, Wyatt McKeen, and Jayson Tamayo shut down the Hawks with 10 strikeouts while holding them to just two runs in the first game of the double header. In what was a low-scoring affair, the ‘Scades capitalized on a three-hit game from Keegan Drinkle and a pair of doubles from Logan Rodgers to propel UFV to a 3-2 victory.
In the second half of the double header, the ‘Scades bats came to life. Led by a two-hit performance from Chase Martin that included the first homerun of the season for UFV, and three hits each from Cleland and Carson Chan, UFV cruised to an easy 11-3 victory and led the series two games to one against the Hawks.
UFV went looking for a series win on Sunday, and it was a slugfest early on. Both the ‘Scades and Hawks put up three runs in the first frame before Lucas Geisler hit a solo shot in the top of the second to give the Hawks a 4-3 lead. Both offences would go quiet until Devon Pennington would mash a two-run homerun to put the ‘Scades up for the first time all game at 5-4. That lead would be short-lived however, as the Hawks countered with three runs in the top of the seventh to take a 7-5 lead. While the ‘Scades did claw back and score one more run to make it 7-6, that was all the offence could muster as the Hawks held on and ended the series with two wins apiece.
While a 2-2 start to the season is most likely not how the ‘Scades would have liked to start their 2026 campaign, their offensive performance over the weekend shows the rest of the CCBC that the ‘Scades are just as good as advertised.
Watch the ‘Scades take on the TRU Wolfpack at Fairfield Island Park in Chilliwack on Apr. 5 at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.
