The West Coast League was out in full force this past weekend at the 2017 Northwest Baseball Coaches convention held January 20-22 at the Portland airport Sheraton.

The event saw the return of the popular WCL Fan Cave, which entertained coaching guests such as associate head coaches Pat Bailey and Jay Uhlman of Oregon State and Oregon, respectively.

Washington State skipper Marty Lees and Washington hitting coach Donegal Fergus also stopped by to chat.

The Fan Cave also featured appearances by new Wenatchee AppleSox head coach Kyle Krustangel, the skipper of defending NWAC champion Yakima Valley CC; legendary former AppleSox head coach Ed Knaggs; NWBC president Jerry Gatto; Concordia assistant coach Jeff Bard; new Skagit Valley College head coach Braden Wells; former NWAC executive director Dick McClain; Detroit Tigers scout Dave Dangler; Miami Marlins scout Gabe Sandy; Clark College head coach Mark Magdaleno; Clackamas CC head coach Jim Hoppel; Big League Chew co-founder Rob Nelson, Baden’s Rusty Trudeau and NWBC merit award winners Mick Ellet and Mike Meyer.

The West Coast League also held its board meetings at the NWBC and was the official sponsor of the NWBC Walk of Champions luncheon held on Saturday.

ABOUT THE WEST COAST LEAGUE

The West Coast League is the premier summer collegiate baseball league west of the Mississippi. The 13-year-old, 11-team, professionally operated wood-bat league located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest features pro prospects from major conferences across the nation and an unparalleled history out west of great fan and player experiences in addition to the best summer weather in North America. In 2016, 88 players with WCL experience were selected in the MLB June draft, and more than 230 WCL alums appeared in affiliated professional baseball including 28 in the major leagues, such as 2015 home-run leader Chris Davis (Baltimore), 2015 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Matt Duffy (Tampa Bay) and rising star pitchers Matt Andriese (Tampa Bay), Matt Boyd (Detroit) and James Paxton (Seattle). Overall member attendance was 379,611 this past season.