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HarbourCats’ roster starts to take shape

General manager — check. Field manager and coach — done and done. Team name — complete.
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Former B.C. Premier league players, from left, Austin Russell, Nick Pivetta and Connor Russell became the first HarbourCats players on Tuesday.
General manager — check.

Field manager and coach — done and done.

Team name — complete.

In orderly fashion, the Victoria HarbourCats are putting together the pieces to their inaugural West Coast League baseball club, adding the first few pieces by way of players on Tuesday morning, confirming locals Austin Russell, Connor Russell and Nick Pivetta as the team’s first three signings.

HarbourCats general manager Holly Jones then threw local media an added bone with the announcement of signings of Major League Baseball draft picks Casey Schroeder (22nd round by St. Louis Cardinals in 2012), David Schuknecht (12th round, Colorado Rockies 2011) and Connor Baits (23rd round New York Mets 2012).

Schroeder and Schuknecht are catchers at the University of Kentucky and Riverside City College in California, respectively. Baits is a six-foot-six, 220-pound right-handed pitcher at the University of California Santa Barbara.

The local trio, meanwhile, was a solid marketing move as the HarbourCats continue to generate interest in the 2013 season, which begins in early June. The announcement was made at Lambrick Park Secondary where the two Russells (not related) played in the Victoria Mariners’ system.

Pivetta is a pitcher from the Victoria Eagles’ junior system.

“This is great. Victoria is a big baseball town, not many people realize that, really,” said Austin Russell, a 21-year-old outfielder who was in junior college in Kansas and is now at Southern Polytechnical State University in Georgia.

“We’ve proven it over and over that we have the fans to support a real good baseball team and I think that’s what the HarbourCats are going to be.

“The teams that have failed are because of the leagues and the contract with the field and whatnot. We’re in a strong league here, that’s not going to fold anytime soon, and we have a good contract with the field, so I think we’re going to be around for a long time.”

Connor Russell, a 20-year-old right-handed pitcher at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, was just as excited as Austin, his former Mariners’ teammate.

“It’s a great opportunity to play in front of my home town and for my home town. There are a lot of great players in this league and I’m really fortunate to play for these guys and hopefully I can get some looks from scouts and coaches,” he said.

“There are a handful of other kids they could have chosen, but they chose us three and we feel fortunate to be given this opportunity,” added Connor.

Pivetta is a six-foot-five right-handed pitcher who is a sophomore at New Mexico Junior College.

“It’s nice to be home and it’s great that we’ll have a high-calibre baseball team to play for in summer when I’m home,” said Pivetta, 19.

“There are going to be a variety of players coming in from both the U.S. and Canada, highly prospected players and I believe they will make us better and want the fans to come watch.”

All three expect to win, right away, but that will be determined come June.

Meanwhile, HarbourCats owner John McLean continues to make the right moves.

“It’s more than a marketing move, they are three pretty good players,” said McLean. “Something I was surprised at is there are 24 Victoria kids playing NCAA, which is just great and shows the deep talent here.

“Our struggle was making sure we could find the ones that wanted to come. We’re in our first year, inaugural season and they have choices on where to go . . . for us we had to get out there, communicate with the Mariners and Eagles and said, ‘;Who are your players so we can have our coaches talk to them.’ ”

McLean is expecting to carry a 32-man roster, with almost half being pitchers.

“We’ve got some more draft picks coming as well, but the three of them have come from good schools, good programs and drafted fairly high,” Mclean said of Schroeder, Schuknecht and Baits. “These three are pretty strong players.”

mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com