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Six HarbourCats named West Coast League all-stars

The Victoria HarbourCats’ record-setting 2016 baseball season was rewarded Monday by the West Coast League. Victoria established the new standard for wins in a regular season with 40 and a new record for longest winning streak with 19.
The Victoria HarbourCats’ record-setting 2016 baseball season was rewarded Monday by the West Coast League.

Victoria established the new standard for wins in a regular season with 40 and a new record for longest winning streak with 19.

Six HarbourCats were named to the all-WCL team, five as first-team. Head coach Graig Merritt was named WCL coach of the year and managing partner Jim Swanson named WCL executive of the year.

The six all-WCL selections are the most in HarbourCats history.

The five HarbourCats named first-team all-WCL were infielder Brad Pluschkell from UC-Davis, outfielder A.J. Alcantara from UC-Irvine and pitchers Josh Mitchell from Pitt, Austin Dondanville from Cal Poly and Will McAffer from Central Arizona.

P.J. Floyd from Sacramento State was named second-team all-WCL as a utility player.

Third-baseman Pluschkell posted a .296 batting average with two home runs and 15 RBIs for the HarbourCats in 2016 while providing outstanding defence, committing only three errors in 39 games.

Alcantara led the team batting with a .333 average while hitting three home runs and driving in 16 runs. He provided tremendous outfield defence in his second year with the HarbourCats, highlighted by three home run-saving catches in left field.

Mitchell set a new franchise record for wins in a single season with his 7-0 record in 2016. The second-year HarbourCats lefthander maintained a 1.86 ERA in 13 appearances with nine starts and led the team in innings pitched with 622Ú3) and strikeouts with 61.

Dondanville was 6-1 with a 1.72 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 11 appearances and seven starts. Dondanville this year became the HarbourCats franchise leader in career wins with 10 and strikeouts with 85.

McAffer led the HarbourCats with 10 starts in 2016, pitching to a 6-2 record with a 1.98 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 541Ú3 innings. McAffer is a native of North Vancouver and was drafted in 2013 by the Cincinnati Reds.

Floyd hit .318 in 40 games for the HarbourCats with two home runs and 15 RBIs.

Meanwhile, Merritt completed his second season as HarbourCats head coach. The native of Maple Ridge and former Los Angeles Dodgers draft pick, and Tampa Bay Rays minor league player, guided the HarbourCats to their first playoff berth in the four years of franchise history.

In addition to setting the new WCL wins record, the HarbourCats attracted an all-time WCL record 60,466 fans through the gates of Royal Athletic Park over the regular season for an average of 2,239 fans per game.

— Times Colonist