Take me out to the ball game: Falcons open 17th season at home tonight, and admission is free

Kelowna opens season with home-and-home set against newest WCL club

With only one practice under their belts, the Kelowna Falcons are set for their season debut tonight.

Comprised of 44 collegiate-level players, including a couple local products, the Falcons will open with a six-game home-and-home against the West Coast League’s newest club, the Port Angeles Lefties — formally the Kitsap Bluejackets, who the Falcons swept in their six-game season series last year.

Kelowna hosts the first three games — starting with tonight’s free home opener, 6:35 p.m. at Elks Stadium.

The weekend series continues Saturday (6:35 p.m.) and Sunday (6:05 p.m.) before the scene shifts to Port Angeles, Wash., for games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tonight’s game is presented by TELUS, with the gates opening at 5:30 p.m. It will be a family atmosphere at Elks, with kids enjoying the bouncy castles and hotdogs.

Fans can also listen to the game live on the Falcons’ website — kelownafalcons.com — with Anthony Fusco returning for his second season as the team’s play-by-play voice.

Historically, the Falcons have not started the summer on the right foot.

In the last seven “season-opening” games, the Falcons have won just once.

In last year’s season series against Kitsap, the three games at Elks were all one-run games — all won by the Falcons.

Kelowna’s players reported on Thursday and had their only practice, though there will be some late arrivals due to their collegiate playoff tournaments.

Collectively, this year’s roster had a batting average of .374, with 38 home runs and 433 RBIs during their school seasons. These results are better than last year’s roster coming into the summer season.

On the pitching side of things, the Falcons’ staff should be solid. Four pitchers collected at least 50 strikeouts during the school season, including UBC Thunderbird Niall Windeler who tallied 57.

In all, the staff fanned 436 batters this spring.

Manager Bryan Donohue is back at the helm this season, with assistant coach Scott Stone and pitching coach James Sloan also returning for their second seasons.

The Falcons are looking to improve on a 25-29 record last year. Kelowna won the Eastern Division pennant back in 2015.

“We have some unfinished business to take care of,” Donohue said. “We believe we have a better all-around team than last season.”