Bellingham Bells

Bellingham Bells
Information
League West Coast League (North)
Location Bellingham, Washington
Ballpark Joe Martin Field
Year founded 1999
Mascot Dinger, The Bellinghamster
Ownership Bellingham Baseball Club, LP
Management Stephanie Morrell, General Manager
Coach Bob Miller, Manager/Head Coach & Jim Clem, Pitching Coach/Recruiting Coordinator

The Bellingham Bells are a collegiate summer baseball team in the West Coast League.

The team is composed of college baseball players from teams around U.S. In recent years, the Bells have produced a number of Major League players including Marc Rzepczynski of the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, Jeff Francis of the 2007 National League Champion Colorado Rockies, and Whatcom County natives Ty Taubenheim (Toronto Blue Jays), Kevin Richardson (Texas Rangers), and Jake Locker.

History

2017

Despite falling one game short of the playoffs in the 2017 after going 31-23 on the season, the fight for the post season provided a variety of very dramatic endings. Kyle Stowers (Stanford) provided not one, but two different occasions where he was responsible for the walk-off hit to win the game. A non-league game ended in a Home Run Derby tie-breaker after extra innings, including an exciting finish and game-winning dinger by Chase Illig (West Virginia). Illig also was awarded Player of the Week mid-season, set the record for most home runs during the WCL season at 15 and was awarded WCL Player of the Year Honors. Hometown kid, Austin Shenton, was also awarded the WCL Batting Champ award, finishing the season with an astonishing .409 batting average. The attendance at Bells games also grew in 2017, finishing third in overall attendance, 36,569, which averages to 1,407 fans per game.

2016

The Bells made it back to the WCL Championship Series after going 32-22 in the regular season. The North Division Champs faced the Corvallis Knights of the South Division for the title in a hard-fought three-game series. Even though the Knights ended up winning the title (2 games to 1), the Bells still had a very successful season overall. Shane Hanon (Marshall University) was crowned WCL Batting Champ, finishing the season with a .331 batting average. The Bells also had one of their standout pitchers from the 2015 and 2016 season, Spencer Howard, drafted 45th overall in the 2016 MLB Draft to the Philadelphia Phillies and is #20 on their Top 30 prospect list.

2015

Following the WCL Championship Season, the Bells were looking to defend their title. Though they went 33-21 on the season, they were unable to make it back to the playoffs. The highlight of the season though was the 2015 WCL All-Star Game, hosted by the Bells at Joe Martin Field. The Bells were able to represent themselves at the game by having six players in the All-Star Game. These players include Justin Calomeni (now with the Colorado Rockies organization), Andrew Kemmerer, Bronson Larsen, Andrew Reichenbach, Dustin Breshears, and Aaron Stroosma (now with the Seattle Mariners Organization). The Bells finished the 2015 season fourth in attendance, with 34,435 attendees to Joe Martin Field.

2014

The Bellingham Bells became the 4th team in WCL history to win a championship, going 37-17 for the season. David Bigelow set a WCL record for most games played, with 29 games in the season. As a whole team, the Bells had 20 saves on the season setting the record for the most saves by any team in WCL history. Their 0.202 opponents' batting average as a team tied the record set by the 2005 Aloha Knights. Bellingham saw 47,307 fans in the seats at Joe Martin Field in just 32 home games, with an average of 1,478 people per night.

Playoff appearances

  • 2016 WCL North Division Champions
  • 2015
  • 2014 West Coast League Champions
  • 2012
  • 1999 PIL Champions and National Baseball Congress World Series Participant[1]

References

  1. ↑ Rob Crawford (Bells Field Manager 1999-2000)
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