McFarland: Rumberg’s notebook helped him in combined no-no
Okotoks Dawgs and George Mason University right-hander Logan Rumberg (Saskatoon, Sask.) has already hurled a combined no-hitter in 2026. Photo: George Mason University Athletics
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on April 1. You can read it here.
April 2, 2026
By Joe McFarland
Alberta Dugout Stories
The hosts of “Blue’s Clues” had their Handy Dandy Notebook.
Over the last couple of baseball seasons, Logan Rumberg has adopted a similar idea with his pitching journal.
After each outing, good or bad, he will write two positive things, two negative things, and two things he wants to work on before his next scheduled outing.
It’s his way of being accountable and charting his progress in certain aspects of his game, whether it be with the Okotoks Dawgs or at George Mason University.
Even after he threw six innings of a combined no-hitter earlier this spring, the righthander was back jotting down a few observations.
“Even on your worst outings, there’s still some positives you can take away and even on your best outings, there are a couple of things that were negative,” Rumberg told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast.
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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Logan Rumberg here.
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“I feel like everyone wants to focus on the positive stuff because it’s easy and makes you feel good, but the negative stuff or the stuff you can get better with is what’s going to make you the best ball player and best person you can be.”
The senior is off to a great start in his final college season as he hopes to help the Patriots claim a championship.
THE BASEBALL LIFER
To say Rumberg has been immersed in baseball from a young age would feel like an understatement.
While his family moved a few times in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the sport always seemed to be around, whether it be on the TV with Blue Jays games or in-person as his dad, Brian, played.
The younger Rumberg says he was always at practices shagging flyballs or at games as the batboy.
While he played other sports like hockey, baseball always seemed like the natural choice so he decided to focus solely on it as he became a teenager.
“I was always one of the better kids on the team and always was looking for the next challenge,” Rumberg said.
“I feel like baseball is a challenge every day and you’re always trying to get better.”
He started obsessing about it, creating pitchers in “MLB: The Show” to reflect himself and to dream bigger.
To make his real game better, he started going to Dawgs Academy in Okotoks, where he started learning from former MLB hurler Lou Pote and long-time pitching coach Jeff Duda.
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
Rumberg showed early on that he would be an impact arm at the collegiate level in his first summer with the hometown Dawgs of the Western Canadian Baseball League.
Fresh off graduating high school, the righthander registered a 1-0 record in nine relief appearances, posting a miniscule earned run average of 0.90 while striking out 15 batters in just 10 innings.
He then took his talents south for his freshman season at George Mason, impressing a lot of people by going 4-2 with a 4.13 ERA in 16 appearances, including five starts.
Rumberg then returned to Okotoks, where he was a big part of the Dawgs’ rotation that won a second-straight WCBL title, as he recorded a 1-1 record with a 4.42 ERA in seven appearances during the regular season, then picked up the win in his lone postseason start – a 4-2 win over Fort McMurray where he went six innings allowing just two runs while striking out three.
Things seemed to be rolling well, until Rumberg returned to George Mason for the 2024 season, as he went 1-5 with a 10.65 ERA in 22 appearances.
“I got rocked,” he said. “It was super-humbling and it felt like, for the first time in baseball career, that I truly just failed day in and day out.”
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound twirler says instead of pouting about his performance or thinking he wasn’t good enough, he decided to keep showing up trying to get better.
BACK ON TRACK
After taking the summer off to really hone in on a few things, Rumberg returned to George Mason for the 2025 season ready to contribute again.
He was much improved, posting a 5-3 record with a 4.87 ERA in 18 appearances (including seven starts) and striking out 56 batters in just over 44 innings of work.
“It’s kind of like I flipped a switch almost, where everything started to connect and work out,” Rumberg said. “Just being able to be at the bottom of the bottom and then figuring it out, it was good for me to be okay with failure and learning from it.”
He switched things up during the offseason, heading to the Victoria Harbourcats of the West Coast League, going 2-3 with a 3.64 ERA in seven starts.
Then it was time to get ready for his senior season of college baseball.
Rumberg’s first start didn’t go exactly as planned, allowing six runs in under four innings of work in a loss to Oregon, before getting back on track with a scoreless six-inning performance against Ball State a week later.
That set the stage for the combined no-hitter against Lehigh, which he wasn’t even aware of what was on the line as he left the game after the sixth.
“I’m going to be honest – it probably wasn’t my best start,” Rumberg said. “I was walking guys, so there was still traffic on the bases, so I honestly didn’t notice until I think I got taken out.”
He looked up at the scoreboard, then started cheering on reliever Brant Ertle and his teammates, who finished the job.
It was the school’s third-ever no-hitter, and Rumberg’s second, as he says he threw one when he was a 12-year-old back home.
JOTTING IT DOWN
Being his final season of college baseball, Rumberg is determined to be a consistent presence on the mound for the Patriots.
He would like to post a 10-win season, which he believes would put the team in a good spot for a playoff push.
The 22-year-old would also like to hit the 100-strikeout plateau, a lofty total but one that he thinks he can achieve by continuing to do the little things right.
Part of that comes back to writing down observations and thoughts in his journal, then referencing it every day to get himself into the right mindset before he hits the mound.
“It’s like preparing for a test,” Rumberg said.
“I feel like every weekend is a test, so if you study from Monday to Thursday, you feel prepared for the game and don’t have any self-doubt or anything like that.”
Even though it’s something he only started about a year ago, it’s something that’s turned out to be quite handy as he continues chasing his professional baseball dreams.