Sylvan Lake Gulls 2025 Preview

No team was hotter than the Sylvan Lake Gulls heading into the postseason.

The Lake Boys rattled off 10 straight wins and finished the 2024 regular season with a Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) record 44 victories as they entered the playoffs.

Sylvan Lake disposed of the Brooks Bombers in the opening round best-of-three series with two straight wins, yielding just one run in those contests.

From there, the Gulls defeated their biggest rivals – the Okotoks Dawgs – in the first game of the West Division championship series and appeared to be in cruise control on their way to the WCBL final. But then the Dawgs did what they do. They held on for a 3-2 win in the second game and, after falling behind early in Game 3, Okotoks punched back with a 10-4 triumph at Gulls Stadium.

The Dawgs went on to win their third straight WCBL championship, and the Gulls and their fans were left nursing another gut punch. The playoff exit marked the third straight year that Sylvan Lake was eliminated by Okotoks. Despite their best regular season in franchise history, the Gulls were still left trying to figure out how to beat their southern foes.

Any road to a WCBL championship seems certain to go through Seaman Stadium at some point.

Can the Gulls slay that beast and get past their top rival in 2025? That’s the question that the brain trust in Sylvan Lake must answer if they hope to achieve what they desperately want, which is to see the Gulls name on the Harry Hallis Memorial Trophy that is given annually to the WCBL champs.

Whatever happens at the diamond, Gulls Stadium is expected to entertain large crowds again this season. Sylvan Lake was third overall in attendance in 2024, with 43,093 spectators attending 28 regular season contests, resulting in an average crowd of 1,539 fans.

The Lake Boys boosters will have some stadium improvements to look forward to, including the extension and improvement of the Provincial Vodka Patio, as well as other enhancements.

COACHING

Steering the ship yet again in Sylvan Lake is Jason Chatwood, the only head coach the club has ever known since entering the league in 2021. In his four WCBL regular seasons, the pride of Innisfail, Alberta has a record of 143 wins and 65 losses.

“The guys that we’ve got coming back are fired up to come back and the new guys can’t wait to get up to Sylvan,” said Chatwood, who was named the 2024 WCBL Coach of the Year.

“You had guys that played hard, they really cared, they embraced the grind. It’s a grueling schedule and we had a few guys that played almost every single day and they enjoyed it.”

Added Chatwood: “Obviously, you want to build on last year but you’ve also got to build things slowly with your new guys. You’ve got to set that expectation.”

Sylvan Lake head coach Jason Chatwood will be writing up the lineup card again this year … *photo by Ian Wilson*

Joining the Gonzaga University graduate in the dugout are assistant coach Wyatt McKnight, a Portland, Oregon product in his fourth year with the club, and pitching coach Matt Hape, also in his fourth year with the Gulls.

PITCHING

The pitching staff of the Gulls includes a number of returning veterans who will log big innings for the team.

Lefty Josh Tucker – who was named the WCBL Most Outstanding Pitcher in 2022 when he became the single-season strikeout record holder for the league – is back for a fourth summer. In 34 games with the Gulls, the native of Spokane, Washington is 16-6 with a 2.67 earned run averge (ERA) and 241 strikeouts over 175.1 innings.

Zach Bowman is another southpaw from Washington who pitched at Gulls Stadium last summer. The reliever appeared in 14 WCBL games and went 3-0 with two saves, a 4.15 ERA and 32 Ks in 30.1 innings.

Local lefty Jaxon Zanolli pitched for Sylvan Lake in 2023 and he’s slotted in for another tour. The Olds, Alberta hurler went 3-0 with one save, 33 Ks and a 2.58 ERA when he suited up in 13 games and handled 31.1 innings for the Gulls two summers ago.

Righthander Hunter Jones of Edmonton will join the Lake Boys for a fourth season. The California State University student has pitched in 33 games – 23 of them starts – over the years with the Gulls and registered an 11-5 record, a 3.07 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 132 innings.

Other returning righties include Calgarian Kai Rempel, who went 2-1 with a save and 31 Ks over 27 frames with Sylvan Lake in 2024, and Wyoming’s Ben Bohlman, a bullpen arm with a 3-0 record and 25 strikeouts in 22.2 WCBL innings last summer.

Those pitchers helped the Gulls post the lowest ERA in the WCBL last year. They’ll need help from some new arms to continue suppressing runs in 2025.

Sylvan Lake has signed righthanders Mickey McClaskey (Gonzaga University); Josh Sterba (Spokane Falls Community College); Noah Bourgeois (Cloud County Community College); Josh Doelitsch (Southwestern Oklahoma State University); Leeroy Tavarez (Texas Southern University); and Jakob Rochelle (Northwest Nazarene University) to help out the pitching staff this year.

A pair of righties – Mason Little and Ian Dittmer – are also joining the club out of Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Lefty pitchers Dylan Myttenar (University of British Columbia) and Tyler Hrin (Howard College) have also been added to the roster.

Grande Prairie, Alberta’s Noah Zenkewich offers the Gulls another left-handed option on the mound, as well.

BATTING

Nathan Flewelling is no longer an option behind the plate for the Gulls. The local product – who hit .329 with 19 runs batted in (RBI) in 20 games for Sylvan Lake last summer – was a third-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2024 MLB Draft and is now playing professional baseball.

Despite the loss of Flewelling’s bat, another Alberta catcher will be masking up for the club. Gavin Galenza suited up in 45 games for Sylvan Lake in 2024 and posted a .326 batting average, 26 RBI and 27 runs.

Catcher Gavin Galenza was a key member of the Gulls in 2024 and will be counted on again this year in the Western Canadian Baseball League … *photo by Ian Wilson*

A trio of new backstops will be available for dish duty, as well. Tripp Ray joins the team out of Southwest Tennessee College; Boise, Idaho native Junior Garcia is a student at Whitworth University; and British Columbia product Cam Macleod is a roster addition from Cloud County Community College.

The ever popular Matty Fung is back for a fourth season as a utility player. Since 2022, the lefty batter has suited up in 137 regular season and playoff games. The Californian is a .295 hitter with 94 runs and 44 stolen bases in the WCBL. Jake Martinez of the University of Texas Arlington will also be called upon as a utility player.

The infield for the Gulls will have a fresh look. Gone are the likes of Gavin Roy, who was the league’s stolen base leader in 2024, and Marques Abulhosn, who pitched for the team in 2023 before tracking down ground balls last summer.

The new base tenders include Rowin O’Connor (Gonzaga University); Bryce Turner (Southwest Tennessee Community College); Ollie Obenaur (Washington State University); Jimmy Pelletier (University of San Francisco); and Matthew Brandt (Oral Roberts University).

The outfield will have to get by without 2024 WCBL MVP Cooper Ciesielski, who batted .382 with 13 dingers, 21 doubles and 54 RBI through 47 regular season contests with Sylvan Lake.

Up-and-coming Simon Baker, a native of Cochrane, Alberta who attends Gonzaga University, will look to build on his 15 games with the Gulls last summer. Baker hit .278 with eight runs, four stolen bases, five RBI and a pair of doubles in 36 at bats.

Another familiar face, Texan Brock Tijerina, is also coming back. The lefty slugger from Lubbock Christian University appeared in 17 games with Sylvan Lake in 2024. He turned in a .345 batting average, 13 RBI and five runs in his 55 at bats.

New to the outfield are Mitchell Middlemiss (University of British Columbia) and Ontario product Noah Konings (Cloud County Community College).