RHP Chase Tucker (Mount Pearl, Nfld.) is a card-carrying member of the Okotoks Dawgs bullpen

June 18, 2025

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Okotoks, Alta. _ The joint was jumping.

Speakers at Seaman Stadium were blasting “Heave Away” by The Fables, the Celtic rock band from St. John’s, Newfoundland, as reliever Chase Tucker took his warm-up tosses.

The Fort McMurray Giants had a man on third as Tucker (Mount Pearl, Nfld.), replaced Josh Mills and made his first pitch.

Tucker heaved it all the way to the backstop with the runner scoring easily from third.

Lord liftin’ as a Newfoundlander might say.

“I gripped a change up and I though ‘oh-oh,’ but I settled down after that, only one bad pitch after that,” said Tucker. “Heave Away is a fishing term and it has a double meaning -- as in heave the ball.

“They asked me for my warm up song and I picked ‘Heave Away’ because I’m proud of my Newfoundland culture. The fans really got into it last year.”

As a Newfoundlander might say when Tucker came on in relief about the fans at Seaman, they’ve “gone where the ducks wear mitts.”

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Heave Away, by The Fables

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Tucker was 3-1, with a 2.70 ERA, working 25 games out of the bullpen as he fanned 21 in 26 2/3 innings in 2024

Tucker explained how a few years ago at the World Juniors Canada picked the song as their “goal song.”

Tucker left The Rock to play at Salem University in West Virginia and had a medical re-shirt one season. In 2022, he was 0-3 with a 10.57 ERA in seven games, making three starts with 10 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings.

Next, he headed to The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., where Patrick Griffin (Oakville, Ont.) the Toronto Blue Jays chief Canadian scout played. Head coach Wayne Jones recruited him as a two-way player: a reliever and a catcher ... which is not the same as say playing shortstop and second base.

“First day there he called me aside and told me ‘You’re a pitcher only,’” Tucker said.

Was he upset with the change of plans?

“I told him whatever, you need. He had seen me catching on video on Twitter, but he said he liked my whippy arm.”

In 2023, he was 1-1 with a 4.08 ERA in four games, making three starts fanning 17 in 17 2/3 innings. The next spring he was 3-2 with a 6.70 ERA striking out 33 in 49 2/3 innings.

And then?

“And after my second year they shut it down, not just the baseball program -- the whole school,” Tucker said.

* * *

Connections: Now what? Well as Tucker said, “The baseball community in Canada is pretty close-knit community which looks out for each other.”

It was RHP Ethan Francis (Miscouche, PEI), a former Okotoks Dawgs Academy player, who suggested Campbellsville University Tigers. Francis pitched for the Northwestern State Demons in 2023 and then served as a graduate assistant.

The Campbellsville coach is the legendary Beauford Sanders, who is in his 26th year. And we have probably talked to him 15 times and during each conversation he will say a version of “don’t be afraid to send some players this way -- I love me some Canadian players. They’re tough and want to play.”

Tucker was impressed with Sanders whom he called a “really good dude,” and said taught him lessons both on and off the field, saying “sometimes you have friends that want to go out, but you have to be smart. You have to be accountable.”

“I had close to 50 innings, I didn’t have the results I wanted, but we won a lot of games (32),” said Tucker who was 3-2 with one save and a 7.42 ERA. He fanned 42 in 43 innings in 18 games, making five starts.

In the Mid-South conference tournament, Campbellsville lost its opener 5-2 to Cumberlands, beat Lindsey Wilson 13-1, edged Freed-Hardeman 4-3 and lost to Cumberlands 6-2.

Tucker picked up a big-boy save against Freed-Hardeman needing only two pitches. He came on in relief with a one-run lead, the bases loaded and one out. He threw a strike. Then the hitter flew out to centre and Henry Wright gunned out the runner at the plate.

“Our centre fielder made a heck of a throw and then there was a celebration,” Tucker said.

At the NCCAA World Series in Kansas City, Campbellsville was a quick out, losing 15-2 to Jessup and 12-2 to Judson University.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at home: Tucker lives 10 minutes from Ryan Sweeney’s Premier Sports Academy. Both founder and president of the facility the place opened during COVID when most places were shut down.

“Ryan allowed my brother Cole and I to go in and work out,” said Tucker, whose brother, two years his elder, played at Southeastern Community College in Iowa and then moved to Niagara University for four years. Now, Cole works for EY, previously known as Ernst & Young in Halifax.

“Ryan Sweeney is doing some really good stuff back home, he’s trying to change the culture as the saying goes,” Tucker said. “He’s offering a lot to kids in the community.”

And Newfoundland is hoping for a boost in registration and interest in the game as host of the Canada Summer Games in 2025.

* * *

Double-duty man: How easy was it being both a catcher and a pitcher?

“It’s almost like two different sports,” he says. “I had a catcher’s arm slot and a pitcher’s arm slot. Let me tell you I have so much respect for catchers.”

Tucker said the “lows are a lot lower as a pitcher.”

“You can go 0-for-4 as a catcher and still make a good play or throw someone out, it’s pretty easy to bounce back from,” Tucker said. “The mound. It’s a lonely place.”

He was under the guidance of manager Lou Pote last year, who is co-manager this season along with Mitch Schmidt.

“It’s obvious Lou has a great pedigree,” Tucker said of the former big leaguer. “He puts you in the right role -- even if you don’t know it yet. Lately I have been in some higher leverage situations.”

Tucker said his best experience was pitching the ninth inning of the 2024 WCBL All-Star Game and how much his parents -- Paula a former professor at Memorial University and Corey, who owns a construction company and a NAPA auto parts store, enjoyed it.

“I owe everything to my parents,” Tucker said. “It is not easy if you let go of your child and have him move so far away from home.”

* * *

Another Big W: Benito Bonilla (Halifax, NS) homered and singled as the Dawgs beat the Fort McMurray Giants 7-1 before 4,111 at newly renovated Seaman Stadium. It was Bonilla’s fourth ... this one to straightaway centre.

Former Canadian Baseball Network scholarship winner Rickey Sanchez doubled and singled, knocking in one run. Ryan McFarland (Okotoks, Alta.) and Trey Mackwood (Calgary, Alta.) each pitched a scoreless inning as Aidan Rose (Calgary, Alta.) added a single.

* * *

The future: Tucker has a 3.65 ERA in eight games, fanning 11 in 12 1/3 innings for the Dawgs this season.

What now for Tucker who began play during COVID, played at three schools one of which shut down.

“I’d love to get a job and stay in Calgary, I’ve met John Ircandia (Dawgs founding father) once, but I don’t know if I could ask him for help,” he said. “I love this province. If I went back to Newfoundland I could pitch and catch.

“I’m going to keep playing.”

Elliott: Dawgs Tucker climbed from Mount Pearl to Seaman Stadium mound