By IAN WILSON
The Lethbridge Bulls have been seeing red for years.
Typically, it’s in the form of their crimson-clad rivals, the Okotoks Dawgs, finishing atop the West Division standings and claiming Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) championships.
Recently, however, the Sylvan Lake Gulls have been giving the Bulls a run for their money. Last year, the Gulls swept Lethbridge in the opening round of the postseason.
It’s been a frustrating few summers for the team from L.A. … Lethbridge, Alberta, that is.
The Bulls have averaged 33 wins over the course of their 56-game regular season during the last three WCBL campaigns, making them an above .500 club. But they haven’t finished higher than third place in the West Division in that time, and have lost in the first round of the playoffs each year, making their 2021 championship seem like a distant memory.
They’ve been a good team, but not good enough to break through in the postseason.
Whether or not they march up the standings or go on a playoff run, the Bulls and their fans will have plenty to be excited about to start the season.
The Bulls recently announced a partnership with the City of Lethbridge, Tourism Lethbridge and the Lethbridge Sport council to launch the “Lethbridge: Baseball’s Home” promotional campaign.
“Baseball in Lethbridge has always been built by people who care about the game and each other. This campaign simply puts a name to something that has always existed,” said Kevin Kvame, the president & CEO of the Bulls.
“This belongs to the community.”
Part of the initiative will be highlighted by the Canadian Grand Slam of Baseball Showcase & Festival, which runs from May 21-31 in the southern Alberta city.
That 11-day stretch will include the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) World Series at Spitz Stadium from May 21-24; the Canadian Baseball Legends Gala on May 27, featuring former Toronto Blue Jay outfielder Kevin Pillar as a guest speaker; and the Bulls Opening Weekend on May 28-29.
In addition, the Road to Okotoks Prairie Qualifier from May 28-31 will show off some of the top 19U baseball talent from across Canada.
Other activities include the Little League T-Ball Jamboree on May 29-30, as well as live music, food trucks and other family festival fun.
Back to the Bulls though. Here’s a look at how their roster shakes out for the 2026 WCBL season.
BATTING
First baseman Carter Claerhout returns for a third season in Lethbridge. In 64 games with the Bulls, including two playoff matchups, the lefty slugger has 50 runs batted in (RBI), 46 runs, 10 homers and a .336 batting average. The Red Deer product has had a spectacular season with Bellevue University in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), where he has a .500 batting average (not a typo), 23 home runs, 16 doubles, 66 RBI, 67 runs and 11 stolen bases in 47 games and 186 at bats. Claerhout has been named the Frontier Conference Player of the Year for his outstanding campaign.
Joining Claerhout in the Spitz Stadium infield for a second straight year is Stevyn Andrachick, who batted .296 with 30 runs, 30 RBI, thee round trippers and eight stolen bases in 48 WCBL games with Lethbridge last summer. The Kalispell, Montana product, a Vauxhall Academy grad, has been a standout at Midland College the last two seasons, where he has a .395 batting average, .525 on-base percentage, 123 runs, 109 RBI, 27 stolen bases and 17 homers in 104 contests.
Lethbridge is often referred to as the Windy City, but this Bulls roster may make it the City of Brotherly Love, as there are four sets of siblings on the team.
Veteran middle infielder Kalem Haney is making a comeback after not playing in the WCBL last year. The left-handed batter from Lethbridge played in 172 games with the Bulls between 2021 and 2024. He hit .307 with 139 runs, 84 RBI, 44 stolen bases and 34 doubles. The senior at the University of Mary has suited up in 167 games over the last four years with the Marauders, where he registered a .331 batting average, 160 runs, 95 RBI, 13 homers, 28 stolen bases and 41 doubles.
Kalem will get the chance to play with his younger brother, Karsen Haney, this summer. Karsen will roam the outfield for the Bulls after playing for two years at Bismarck State College, where he batted .285 with 34 runs, 34 RBI, eight swiped bags and seven home runs in 56 games.
Also signed on for infield duty are the Wheatley brothers from Calgary. Luke Wheatley suited up in 30 games with the Bulls in 2025 and registered 15 hits and 14 runs, while Jack Wheatley played two games for Lethbridge last summer. The siblings both trained at Vauxhall Academy.
Lee Matsuzaki also impressed the Spitz Stadium faithful last year. The Honolulu, Hawaii outfielder batted .318 with 49 runs, 31 RBI, five homers and six steals in 50 regular season matchups with the Bulls.
Lee’s brother, Reyn Matsuzaki, is a catcher and first baseman at North Park University. He’s played 95 games with the Vikings and has a .324 batting average, 16 homers, 82 RBI and 58 runs over three seasons.
Cardel Dick, who geared up behind the plate for the Bulls in 64 games from 2022 to 2024, is back for another tour of duty. The Abbotsford, B.C. native has spent the last three years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, a Division 1 NCAA program. He has 13 long balls, 52 runs and 75 RBI with the Mavericks in 105 games. His older brother, Carlin, is an assistant coach with the Bulls.
Catcher Noah McNeil is making a return to Lethbridge. He hit .321 with 22 runs and 13 RBI in 26 games with the Bulls in 2024. The PBA grad from Ottawa, Ontario is a sophomore at Northwestern State University, which is also a Division 1 NCAA school.
Outfielder Brennan McTavish will look to build on a stellar 2025 WCBL season. With the Bulls last summer, the lefty hitter had 38 RBI, 37 runs, 10 stolen bases, six round trippers and a .301 batting average in 53 regular season games.
Calgary native Will Turner is coming back to the Bulls, as well. The Prairie Baseball Academy (PBA) student logged 34 games with Lethbridge in the WCBL in 2025 and contributed 17 runs, 17 RBI and four long balls in 132 at bats. The righty batter has played 57 games for PBA in the CCBC over the last two years and is batting .372 with 50 RBI, 69 runs, 14 stolen bases and five homers in that time.
Tetsu Nishida, a teammate of Turner’s at PBA, played in three games with the Bulls last year. In his 33 games in the CCBC the last two seasons, Nishida is hitting .271 with 32 runs, 26 RBI and 11 stolen bases.
Xander Meissner will be an option at first base and in the outfield for the team. The sophomore from Parker, Colorado has a .363 batting average, 20 homers, 95 RBI, 79 runs, 29 doubles and a .473 on-base percentage in his 69 games at Bethany Lutheran College the last two years.
The coaching staff of the Bulls also have some versatility in Easton Kitura, who can play in both the infield and the outfield. The affiliate on the roster studies at the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball.
New to the outfield is Joshua Milton, who is playing alongside longtime Bulls star Jack Kalisky at Our Lady of the Lake University. The Texan registered a .393 batting average, .470 on-base percentage, 87 RBI, 61 runs and 15 stolen bases in 94 games with the Saints the last two seasons.
PITCHING
The Bulls will miss the mound supremacy of Levi Abbott, who was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher in the WCBL in 2025 and also received several votes for league MVP.
Southpaw Brett Getz could help ease the loss of Abbott. The 6-foot-4 Medicine Hat native went 2-2 with a 4.15 earned run average (ERA) and 48 strikeouts in 43-plus innings as a starting pitcher with the Bulls last summer. As a reliever at Eastern Arizona College this season, the lefty is 3-2 with one save, 36 Ks and a 4.85 ERA in 26 innings and 15 appearances.
Jimmy Boulanger, who plays with Getz at Eastern Arizona College, is also back for another summer at Spitz Stadium. The right-handed reliever has logged 39.2 innings with the Bulls over the last two years as both a starter and a bullpen option.
Calgarian Aidan Newton is back for a fourth season with the Bulls. The righthander has taken the bump in 41 games with Lethbridge, including 11 starts, and put together a 6-7 record with 71 strikeouts in 98.2 innings. The 6-foot-3 senior has been used as a starting pitcher at the University of Mount Olive, where he is 5-1 with a 3.15 ERA and 36 Ks in 40 innings. Four of his starts for the Trojans have been complete games.
Shane Lanier, a teammate of Newton’s at the University of Mount Olive, will make the trek north to play for Lethbridge. Lanier is a righty from Plymouth, North Carolina in his junior season.
Expect to see Kaden Coldwell back as a bullpen arm with the club. The 6-foot-2 Winnipeg product went 1-0 with a save, 16 strikeouts and a 4.35 ERA in 16 relief appearances for the Bulls last year.
Lucas Huynh is another returning reliever who has been with the Bulls since 2024. The University of British Columbia junior has put in 32-plus innings over 24 WCBL contests. Huynh has two saves, 38 Ks and a 3.34 ERA as a member of the Bulls.
Also slated for an assignment in the arm barn again is Corbin Talley, a lefty from Oklahoma who went 1-0 with a save, 24 strikeouts and a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings of relief for Lethbridge in 2025.
Talley attends Northwest Nazarene University, where he pitches alongside Brayden Stidham, a righty freshman who has been added to the roster.
WCBL veteran Ethan Webster will make his debut with the Bulls this year. The righthander has spent the last three summers pitching for the Weyburn Beavers, where he’s racked up 104 strikeouts over 133 innings. The University of Calgary student has taken the mound in 43 games for the Beavers, including 17 starts.
The Bulls have inked three righthanders out of Midland College, including Juan Salazar, Blake Watters and Patrick MacInnis. MacInnis is a Vauxhall Academy product from Calgary who pitched in three games out of the bullpen for Lethbridge in 2024.
A pair of juniors – Bryce McGuire and Cody Graf – are joining the Bulls out of the University of Arkansas-Monticello. Both are right-handed relievers. Graf is a 6-foot-4, 225-pound pitcher from Lloydminster, Alberta who is a PBA graduate.
Bethany Lutheran College is also sending two Minnesota righthanders to Lethbridge in the form of Adryen Tietz and Caeden Willaert. Tietz has served as a starter with the Vikings over the last three seasons, while Willaert has mainly worked out of the bullpen.
Other newcomers on the team include Jacob McAdams (Cloud County Community College), McCoy Rippentrop (Dodge City Community College), and Aaron Gutierrez (St. Edwards University).
Three high schoolers from Vauxhall Academy are also on the pitching staff as affiliates. They include Graham Thiessen, Noah Simpson and Calum Andersen.
COACHING
While some WCBL clubs are making moves among their coaching ranks, others are standing pat, believing that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The Lethbridge Bulls, a team that went 33-22 and finished third in the West Division in 2025, has re-upped its coaching staff for 2006.
Ryan MacDonald is back for his third straight season as the head coach of the Bulls, after serving as an assistant coach with the team for three consecutive summers before that. The Nova Scotia native played five seasons with Lethbridge and coached with the Bulls during their championship seasons in 2015 and 2021.
“We’re pretty excited with the guys we have coming in this year. We kind of filled some spots that we felt were lacking last year, so we’re pretty excited about the group we have coming in,” said MacDonald during an interview on The Bullhorn.
“Last year we felt we were kind of down in the stolen base department, so we tried to add some speed.”
Also back with the Bulls is pitching coach Josh Burgmann, a Vauxhall Academy of Baseball grad who was a fifth-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in the 2019 MLB Draft. He has been a part of the coaching staff in Lethbridge since 2023.
Myles Fletcher, a member of the Lethbridge Bulls during their inaugural season in 1999, returns as bench coach for a third straight summer.
Carlin Dick is another former Bulls player who is an assistant coach with the club. This is his second season coaching with the team.
Home Ballpark: Spitz Stadium
Home Opener: 7:10 p.m., Thursday, May 28th vs. Brooks Bombers
2025 Regular Season Results: 3rd place in West Division with 33 wins & 22 losses
2025 Playoff Results: Swept in opening round by Sylvan Lake Gulls; 0-2 postseason record
WCBL Championships: 2015 & 2021
