Elliott: When Bach comes up, outfielders move back, back, back
Former North Delta Blue Jays and White Rock Tritons OF Jordan Bach (Ladner, BC) is headed to the Kansas Jayhawks. Photo: Kansas Athletics
August 17, 2025
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Jordan Bach hopes to go back-to-back next spring ...
As in back-to-back titles.
Or should it be Bach to Bach?
Bach (Ladner, BC) helped skipper Joey Ellison (Mississauga, Ont.) and the Thunder Bay Border Cats take the Superior Cup since they were superior against the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods college summer league. Bach batted .429 with five doubles, six homers, 36 RBIs and a 1.163 OPS. The speedster was 16-for-17 swiping bases in 26 games.
And now after two seasons with the Southern Illinois Salukis, Bach is transferring to the Kansas University Jayhawks. With Southern Illinois, he hit .309 in the spring of 2025. Bach added 19 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs and 41 RBIs. He had a .995 OPS in 56 games while going 12-for-14 stealing bases.
Southern Illinois -- where Blue Jays ace Dave Stieb and OF Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) attended classes -- went 37-20 losing to the Murray State Races in the Missouri Valley conference tournament.
During the Saluki season, his best day was against Chicago going 4-for-5 with four RBIs and three doubles.
He had three-hit games facing Tennessee Tech (triple, two RBIs), Bellarmine (double, three RBIs), Bellarmine (three RBIs), Morehead State (two RBIs) and Missouri State (two doubles, triple).
And Bach had two-hit games against UT Rio Grande Valley (RBI), Tennessee Tech (double), Tennessee Tech (double), Arkansas State (double), Bellarmine (double, RBI), Chicago, Arkansas State (homer, two RBIs), Belmont (RBI), Belmont (home run, three RBIs), Illinois State (two RBIs), Illinois State (two doubles, two runs knocked in), Southern-Illinois Edwardsville (two RBIs), Valparaiso (RBI) and Chicago.
Among the 1,185 Canadians playing the majority of their schedule south of the border, Bach ranked first in runs scored (63), tied for second in doubles (19), tied for fifth in triples (two), sixth in at-bats (220), ninth in games played (56), 10th in OPS (.996), tied for 10th in stolen bases (12) and tied for 10th in slugging percentage (.564).