By Bob Elliott
It was Saturday night … a hot summer July night … the time for family night in the park.
And Brendan Luther had his family there.
Let’s see there was …
- Mom, Siobhan McCaig, who knows the game better than most of other moms — and many a dad — has an Irish first name, one that is always a conversation starter due to the spelling.
- Dad, Gary Luther, who played at North York for the legendary coach John Jepson and was an outfielder with the Junior National Team that won bronze at the 1987 Worlds in Windsor under manager Jim Ridley.
- Grandma, Mary McCaig, who now lives in Oakville,
- Grandpa, Alan McCaig, who was born in England where rounders was played. He is a big ball fan and a bigger fan of grandsons Brendan and Aiden of the Erindale Cardinals. plus daughter, Calleigh, Bruce Thompson’s boss at Tom Chater field. Alan was captain of the rugby, tennis and cricket teams, as well as playing soccer and competing in track and field. All are season ticket holders. And the family attends as many of road games as possible.
- Gay Kaul, grandma Mary’s best friend for more than 65 years dating back to nursing school in England. She’s an aunt to Siobhan and her siblings and is so close with the family that she has been bestowed the honorary title of grandma to the three children.
The whole gang was there to see their son (grandson) SS Brendan Luther (Mississauga, Ont.) play for the first-place Welland Jackfish. Luther had two singles and turned three double plays, but while a good time was had by all, the Jackfish fell 13-6 to Rob Butler’s Toronto Maple Leafs as Marcus Knecht (North York, Ont.) went 5-for-6 with a solo homer before 3,038 at Welland Stadium.
We can read your mind right about now … so what is the big deal? Players’ parents and grandparents show all the time to see their son (grandson) play.
Well, the point is, the family has not been able to see Brendan on a regular basis until this simmer since his days with the Mississauga Southwest Twins, Etobicoke Rangers and the Oakville Royals.
Brendan spent four years at Okanagan College in Kelowna, B.C., although two seasons were wiped out by Covid. Then, he moved on to summer college ball with the Edmonton Prospects in 2019 and 2021 in the Western Canadian Baseball League (once again 2020 was cancelled).
Then, he headed to Nebraska to play for the Bellevue University Bruins in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He played summer ball for the Okotoks Dawgs in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
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And boy, did he play.
Brendan was MVP for the Dawgs’ championship team in 2023, playing gold glove defence up the middle, batting .338 with a homer and 28 RBIs with 52 hits and 28 runs in 38 games. And in 2024 with another title-bound Dawgs team he was named the top Canadian — for a second time — hitting .368 average with 14 doubles, three home runs and 29 RBIs in 37 games.
At Seaman Stadium in Okotoks we saw Brendan mobbed by fans and youngsters alike for autographs. And he signed them all.
“This is my Okotoks of Ontario,” said Brendan, of the Welland experience to date. Come the off season he’ll return to Kelowna, BC where he works as a graphic designer.
His lessons learned from Dawgs infield/third base coach Andy Peterson are still with him whether it is an approach to charging a ball or getting the proper angle on a ground ball … or other things.
“The other night in Hamilton I slid into third base and my ankle hurt,” Brendan said, “the first voice in my head was (Dawgs third base coach) Andy saying ‘Get up … you’re not hurt … don’t you dare make (trainer) Savannah Blakley come all the way out here to check your ankle. Let’s go!’”
Brendan singled over first base against Hamilton Cardinals, Fernando Rodney, 48, who has 327 career saves in 17 major league seasons. Rodney’s fastball isn’t what it was, but his changeup is still major-league calibre.
Luther is hitting .370 with four doubles, two homers and 21 RBIs in 34 games.
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Words from the west …
Okotoks Dawgs founding director John Ircandia: “From my perspective, Brendan went from a solid backup glove at shortstop to a ‘Derek Jeter’ like presence providing not only clutch hit after hit, but occasional power when the team needed it most. And like Jeter he delivered the kind of quiet but ‘refuse to lose’ type leadership that is the backbone of championship teams. He became our MVP.”
READ MORE: Dynamic Duo
Dawgs manager Lou (LSL) Pote in 2023-24: “Brendan was our heartbeat, man. He brought consistency to our team on both sides of the ball and got us going every night. Quiet but intense and come August (playoff time) he took it to another level.”
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The Pond: Last time we were at Welland Stadium, we saw Saskatchewan play Nova Scotia during the Summer Games. And the time before that coach Gary Wilson’s Ontario Blue Jays with Scott Thorman in 1999 against the Welland Renegades run by Bill Maksinuk.
I figured it out and this was only the third IBL game I’d seen since 2002. As we used to say at Olympic Stadium, “Quelle surprise!” The place was jammed — much like Arnold Anderson Stadium in Brantford during the Paul Aucoin/Alfie Payne/Rick Johnston/Lee Delfino era.
There were kids playing on the berm wearing Pelham, Fonthill and Vineland jerseys cheering, drinking soda and eating hot dogs. In the grandstand, most were wearing some kind of Welland Jackfish merchandise and some were even drinking the club’s own brand of beer — Pond Water in green cans.
Welland leads the Intercounty loop with an average attendance of 2,474. The London Majors are second at 1,984.
Ryan Harrison, president, majority owner and chief doctor of fun, has turned the Welland franchise into the league’s crown jewel. We can recall years ago going to see the Hamilton Redbirds-Welland Pirates game in 1993 in a class-A New York Penn league game. The Jackfish draw more than the Pirates (average attendance: 923 fans).
What is so impressive is that the franchise was a bust in Mississauga and fared little better in Burlington. Yet, in Welland … the franchise has been re-born. The team and ownership have hit a grand slam, drawing over 15,000 fans to Welland Stadium in 2019, second in average attendance among the eight member clubs.
The question is why?
Four reasons we can think of off the top:
- The market was starved for a team since the A-ball (after 1994) and independent team (2003) left.
- Excellent presentation and non-stop entertainment.
- A competitive team: Welland won in 2023 and were contenders or above .500 and in the top four or so in the standings every year.
- They recruit well. Hamilton, may have Fernando Rodney, but in RHP José Domínguez from San Pedro de Macrois they have an arm with 56 major-league innings with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padres.
Some other people we met on our trip as the we found the rainbow this side of the Rainbow Bridge.
- CF Gianfranco Morello (North York, Ont.).
Morello is the quiet captain of the Jackfish. But he showed in a grumpy mood for Friday night’s game against the Brantford Red Sox. He was ejected early. Quite uncharacteristic for him. Bad traffic? Someone broke his bat during batting practice?
Nope. And nope.
Turns out Bella his pet Maltipoo dog had chewed most of the webbing out of his glove. And he didn’t realize it until catching a ball during pre-game batting practice.
Performance coach Ryan Bench fixed the glove to the point where it was game-ready, but Morello was left with a much smaller webbing.
As for Morello, a former Toronto Met, who played for Jason Chee-Aloy and Rich Leitch, he was in the first Tournament 12 at Rogers Centre. The hitting partners in his group Year 1 were Gareth Morgan (North York, Ont.), selected in the second round (74th in North America) in 2014 by the Seattle Mariners who reached double-A Mobile in the Los Angeles Angels system and Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) recently traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Seattle Mariners. who went in the first round in 2015 to the Miami Marlins (12th overall).
Morello played four seasons with the Charleston Golden Eagles under coach Andrew Wright (Woodstock, NB) hitting .321, with 47 doubles, 13 triples, 10 homers and 117 RBIs in 204 games over his career. Under Wright, the Eagles won 14 games Morello’s rookie year and in his senior season the team went 41-20 to finish half a game behind the Shepherd Rams (36-16) in the Mountain East Conference.
This season, Morello owns a .322 average with eight doubles, a triple, a homer and 22 RBIs in 31 games.
- INF Josh Marchese (Burnaby, BC)
Marchese played for Doug Mathieson and Jamie Bodaly with the Langley Blaze.
Said Mathieson: “He showed skill, leadership and could really hit. He always had a smile and positive attitude and a great teammate.”
Mathieson said the next time I see Marchese to tell him when he’s finished playing “tell him to come back, because he is welcome to coach with the Blaze.”
- INF Austin Gomm and brother OF Tyson Gomm (Mississauga, Ont.).
As part of the LSU Shreveport Pilots, who had an unprecedented, undefeated season and the program’s first-ever NAIA National Championship, Austin batted .348 with 12 doubles, five triples, 12 homers, 64 RBIs and a 1.004 OPS in 53 games, during the Pilots 59-0 season.
It was a new all-time record for the longest winning streak in college history across all divisions. LSUS went 47-0 in the regular season and dominated the Red River Athletic Conference with a flawless 30-0 conference mark. The Pilots rolled through the conference tournament, earning a pair of double-digit victories en route to the title. LSUS continued its dominance in the postseason, hosting and winning the NAIA Opening Round Shreveport Bracket. Once in Lewiston, Idaho, the Pilots proved unstoppable, sweeping the field and capturing the 2025 NAIA National title.
Austin made his debut on June 24 … a 3-2 loss to the Hamilton Cardinals … his first lost of 2025. Brother OF Tyson, who played at Parkland College and now with the Brock Badgers, is batting .118 with two doubles and two RBIs in 13 games. Austin is hitting .228 with three doubles, a triple and six RBIs in 16 games.
When we finished with the pleasantries Tyson brought a Diet Pepsi out from behind his back and gave it to me. Not my brand, but it twas a dry night. So the gesture and the sense of humor was most appreciated. We were familiar watching the Gomm brothers with the Mississauga Majors and the Terriers.
- Ryan Bench, doctor of Leather.
Besides being handy fixing Morello’s webbing, Bench (Fonthill, Ont.) has the best jewelry collection of anyone in the Jackfish clubhouse. He worked for the Texas Rangers in their performance department collecting and dealing with biomechanics and sport science data for three years and earned a World Series ring in 2023.
- And faces in the crowd
Sherri Sprott, whose father Jim Sprott pitched for my father in Kingston and is married to Rob Butler … Brock coach Marc LePage … Blue Jays assistant general manager Andrew Tinnish, a Brock Hall of Famer.
