Thunder Bay, Ont. – The Thunder Bay Border Cats have added another Canadian player to the roster with the signing of outfielder Jakob Newton. Newton, from Oakville, Ont., will join fellow Canadian infielder Thomas Grilli of Mississauga, Ont., in Thunder Bay for the 2019 Northwoods League season. The Cats have also added three more players to the roster with the additions of infielder Karsten Vasquez and pitchers Jeremiah Priddy and Trent Valentine.
Newton is currently in his sophomore season at Florida Tech University in Melbourne, Fla., and is hitting .214 this year in eight games with one home run and three runs batted in. The 6’3”, 180 pound left-handed hitter batted .251 during his freshman year with two home runs in 47 games.
Vasquez, who is the son of Border Cats manager Eric Vasquez, is in his freshman season at Sacramento City College in his home state of California. The 5’8”, 165 pound second baseman-shortstop has appeared in eight games this season and is off to a hot start, hitting .500 with three runs batted in.
Priddy, is a 6’0”, 215 pound right-hander from Corona, Calif., and is a sophomore at the University of California-Riverside. He has made one start this season and took the loss against the University of Nebraska, despite striking out seven over 6.1 innings. Priddy was named an all-league all-star at Corona High School in both 2016 and 2017.
Valentine, who hails from Hopewell Junction, N.J., is a sophomore at Iona College in New York. The 5’10”, 215 pound right-hander appeared in 12 games in 2018 and compiled a record of 1-5. His one victory came at Delaware State on March 10 where he allowed three runs over six innings. Valentine struck out a career high eight on March 29 against Long Island University-Brooklyn.
The Border Cats open the 2019 regular season on Tuesday, May 28, at 7:05 pm against the Duluth Huskies at Port Arthur Stadium. Fans can visit www.bordercatsbaseball.com to take advantage of the early bird season ticket special through February 28.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC), Brandon Crawford (SFG) and Chris Sale (BOS). As well as MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIL). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.comor download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.