The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack baseball team has gone to Calgary, Alberta for another recruit.
Head coach Ray Chadwick and the WolfPack have announced that infielder/outfielder Koll Cherkowski of the Calgary “AAA” Babe Ruth Indians will join the program effective September1st. Cherkowski, the second recruit from Babe Ruth Calgary will graduate this June from Central Memorial High School.
“I have heard great things about the academic and athletic programs at TRU. I personally love the facilities and I am excited about playing ball there,”” says Cherkowski. My cousin recently graduated from Enviornmental Engineering at TRU and he really liked it.” Cherkowski plans to take courses aimed at earning a degree in Software Engineering at Thompson Rivers. “I can’t wait to begin my education and baseball career there.”
Cherkowski is primarily an outfielder but also can play third base. After hearing about the baseball program from his Babe Ruth Calgary coach, Ben Elger, Cherkowski contacted Chadwick about a chance to play for the WolfPack and later followed it up with a visit to Kamloops where he trained alongside the current edition of the TRU baseball team. “ He should be a great fit with our guys,” Chadwick adds.
CoachElgert’s son Duncan played for the WolfPack a couple of years ago. “ I’ve coached Koll for the last couple of years. Koll was a player that we drafted into our Babe Ruth Indian’s organization that we saw great potential in his speed and hitting. He played his second year on our AA Indian’s club last year and this year he’s been promoted to our AAA Indian’s team along with our other deserving second year AA players. We have two other players from last year’s AA roster that have also signed or will be signing with college teams for next year’s season. Koll also tried out for and made the AA Blues travel team last year and I believe he was their starting center fielder. Our AAA spring season is just getting underway this week and I expect that Koll will be one of our starting outfielders and be placed in the hitting lineup as one of our power hitters. Last year, we had an excellent AA team and won both the regular season (15W-5L) and playoff (4W-0L) championships. Koll was our starting center fielder and cleanup hitter for most of our games that he started in. “
In 2018, Cherkowski played in 17 games having 51 at bats, hitting 26 times and scoring 26 runs. He had two homers, four triples and two doubles. The post season saw him having 14 at bats in 4 games with six hits, six runs scored and two doubles.
Adds Elgert, “Koll was runner up for the AA batting title with his Indian’s teammate winning the title. He was also selected to the AA All Star team as an outfielder. Koll’s major strengths are his hitting, speed, and outfield defense. He has great hitting mechanics and one of the most explosive swings that I have seen in our league which is reflected in his extra base hits. He was definitely respected by the other teams in the league as a dangerous, power hitter. Although he didn’t steal that many bases last year, he is one our fastest players on the base paths and in the outfield. His defense has improved significantly from his first year in the league. Koll’s improvement came from his hard work throughout the year and from his involvement in Miki Kawahara’s NSA training programs for his grade 11 & 12 years. Koll is very competitive and holds his performance to a high standard. Koll was definitely aware of TRU as a college destination since we have had a number of players from Babe Ruth Calgary who recently played for TRU in some capacity including former Indian’s players Joel Pineau, Logan Kandalaft, and Duncan Elgert. Babe Ruth Calgary also has a new college recruiting coordinator named Sam Marino who’s role is to help players find college baseball opportunities and he is very aware of TRU as a college baseball destination for our players. “
The other WolfPack recruit from Calgary is catcher Ethan Keats (5’8”) from Crescent Heights High School and the Calgary “AA” Rockies. Thompson Rivers has also signed first base/pitcher Simon Crossfield from Vancouver, BC who will graduate from Sir Charles Tupper secondary and plays for the UBC Thunder. Crossfield is a multi-sport athlete who will also be a member of the men’s basketball squad at Thompson Rivers.
