Comeback greater than setback for Hawkins

Biggar product heads to spring training with MLB Padres

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Garrett Hawkins gets some throws in at the Indoor Training Centre.

Sitting on the cusp of a “big league” dream, Garrett Hawkins was just trying to revive his baseball career a year ago at this time.

In February of 2025, Hawkins was going into training camp activities with the San Diego Padres organization after having last pitched early in the 2023 campaign. He was well along the comeback trail after having Tommy John surgery in the elbow on his right throwing arm.

On April 5, 2025, Hawkins took the mound in his new role as a reliever for the Fort Wayne TinCaps, who are the Padres high-A affiliate in Indiana. From that beginning he would be promoted to the San Antonio Missions AA team on August 1, 2025. 

Hawkins performed so well that he was named the Padres’ organizational Minor League Pitcher of the Year on September 28, 2025.

The best news following the end of the campaign came to Hawkins on November 18, 2025 when he was added to the Padres 40-man MLB roster. He is set to report along with the rest of the Padres pitchers and catchers for Spring Training on February 11 in Peoria, Arizona, which is a day after his 26^th birthday.

“I don’t think it has fully settled in kind of what it means,” said Hawkins, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 230 pounds. “I think once I get down to spring training it will kind of settle in.”

As he has for every off-season of his professional career, Hawkins has been training at the Indoor Training Centre with the Going Yard Baseball Academy. He has also helped out with coaching young pitchers too.

Garrett Hawkins returned to action after Tommy John surgery.

While Hawkins had been with the Padres since being selected by them in the ninth round of the 2021 MLB Draft in July of that year, he felt like he was going into the unknown going into spring training in 2025. One of the first changes he dealt with was being moved from being a starter to being a reliever.

“At the start of the year, I didn’t know what kind of role I’d have and kind of how the year would go,” said Hawkins. “I got settled in with a good group in Fort Wayne and kind of took it slow.

“I kind of learned along with some of the new guys that I didn’t know before. The year turned out all right.”

From April 27, 2025 until his promotion to San Antonio on Aug. 1, 2025, Hawkins did not allow a run for 34 consecutive innings over 26 appearances. It was the longest scoreless inning and appearances streak in Fort Wayne franchise history. 

Hawkins’ streak finished at 38 consecutive innings, which was the longest scoreless innings streak in Minor League Baseball since 2015.

“It definitely was a fun ride,” said Hawkins about the scoreless innings streak. “I didn’t really know where I was at as kind of the year went.

“I wasn’t thinking about it a whole lot. It definitely was nice to kind of be in that groove for a while and definitely there was some luck involved. It was a good run.”

With the TinCaps, Hawkins appeared in 32 games pitching in 44 innings posting an 8-1 record, a 1.43 earned run average, 60 strike outs and eight saves, while giving up 17 hits. With the Missions, Hawkins appeared in 13 games pitching in 16 innings posting a 1-0 record, a 1.69 earned run average, 20 strikeouts and two saves while giving up 11 hits.

Garrett Hawkins threw 38 consecutive scoreless innings in 2025.

Jordan Draeger, who is an owner operator and instructor at Going Yard, first got an opportunity to coach Hawkins in 2015, when the hurler was 15-years-old. Draeger has gotten to work with Hawkins on a fairly regular basis since that time including working with him to get him ready for the 2025 campaign and for the upcoming 2026 season. The longtime coach was impressed with how Hawkins performed last season coming back from injury.

“It was actually pretty remarkable like how he bounced back from the Tommy John surgery,” said Draeger. “I’ve seen athletes mentally get rocked by that a little bit, and it takes them a little bit while to trust their body and bring the violence back into their throwing progression.

“He really didn’t skip a beat honestly. He just kind of realized that it is a part of things that if you’re going to throw with that much intent all the time that it is just kind of part of it. Mentally, it didn’t set him back at all, so physically it didn’t set him back at all.

“He did a great job of recovering, putting in the hard work obviously in the gym working on his body to make sure that he was in a good position to bounce back. It honestly didn’t play too much into what we did out here from a training progression.”

Draeger added that everyone with Going Yard were keeping tabs on Hawkins’ scoreless inning streak when it was in progress.

“It was super cool to track his progression of the scoreless inning streak,” said Draeger. “That was a lot of fun for everyone to watch, (and) watching his numbers and the strikeout percentages go up.

Garrett Hawkins, right, gives pointers to a young pitcher.

“I think him moving into a closer role was something that was really healthy for him. There is a limited amount of pitches, and he could just go out there and throw with high intent and do his thing. I think the Padres have found a bit of a gold mine, and I think they’re just starting to realize that.

“With that, they put him in the right role. It fits him really well. It was super cool for us to watch as an organization and be able to like cheer him on at a distance.”

Hawkins has enjoyed being able to come back to work with Draeger and the rest of the Going Yard staff over the years.

“These guys have helped me a bunch throughout kind of the development of me all the way back to high school,” said Hawkins, who is a graduate of the Saskatoon Giants under18-AAA program. “It definitely means a lot to have them around.”

Draeger said it has been special to work with Hawkins over the long term and see how the relationship evolved with the experience the hurler has gained since becoming a professional in 2021.

“I think it is a really respectful relationship that we have in the sense that we can still offer him help and offer guidance here,” said Draeger. “It is more of a conversation now than it is about like firm coaching.

“We have really productive conversations on what he needs to do and what he needs to execute in order to get better. It has been awesome to just like have that insight as to where he came from and where he is going.”

Hawkins was grateful to be named the Padres’ organizational Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He is also thankful the Padres stuck with him during the recovery process and didn’t elect to release him.

Garrett Hawkins aims to take advantage of his MLB roster spot.

“It definitely means a lot,” said Hawkins. “They’ve invested a lot of time and energy into developing me into who I am.

“I am definitely grateful for that.”

Now going into the 2026 campaign, Hawkins focus is on taking advantage of the fact he is on the Padres 40-man MLB roster.

“I kind of just take it one day at a time and not make it as big of a deal as it maybe is,” said Hawkins. “I am just trying to do my thing and not worry about too much else.”

Tragedy to triumph – Boyenko’s unique summer with Red Sox

Going Yard instructor helps coach Regina to WCBL title

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Brody Boyenko holds the WCBL championship trophy on Aug. 16.

It began with heartbreak no sports team should have to experience and ended with raising a league championship trophy.

When Going Yard Baseball Academy instructor Brody Boyenko joined the Regina Red Sox as an assistant coach this past May, he was looking forward to a second opportunity to coach in the WCBL. To coach with a program that has existed since 1913 playing in various leagues in its history was another bonus. He ended up getting more than he imagined during the spring and summer league baseball season.

Right at the start of the season in late May, the Red Sox were sent reeling by the tragic death of returning right-handed pitcher and Regina product Jesse Lubiniecki. The 22-year-old passed away in a single vehicle rollover in Rosebud County, Montana, on May 29.

Lubiniecki was driving home to rejoin the Red Sox after completing his season with the Taft College Cougars in Taft, California. He became a member of the Red Sox part way through the 2024 campaign.

From that unthinkable beginning, the Red Sox completed the 2025 campaign on August 16 taking a series deciding Game 3 of the WCBL Championship Series 5-4 against the host Sylvan Lake Gulls in Gulls Stadium before 1,895 spectators.

While Boyenko was obviously proud of what the Red Sox accomplished, it is still burned into his mind all the emotions the team went through when news of Lubiniecki’s unthinkable passing broke.

“That was my first experience of any athlete that I have coached or was going to coach pass away,” said Boyenko. “That whole week, it really kind of shook our team a little bit.

“The day we found out, we were actually playing a game, so even that game was tough to get through. That whole week, I just remember it was a very long and somber week. I feel like once we got through that week Jesse (Lubiniecki) was a big motivating factor behind our season after that point.”

Brody Boyenko works the first base line for the Red Sox at Cairns Field.

The Red Sox elected to keep Lubiniecki’s name tag attached to his stall and continue to have his #33 jersey hanging in his stall in the team’s dressing room at Currie Field through the entire season as a tribute. A rose was also laid inside of Lubiniecki’s stall in remembrance of the late pitcher.

On the road in the WCBL, the Red Sox encounter a number of dressing rooms that don’t have stalls in the visitor’s room. Instead of bringing Lubiniecki’s dressing room setup on the road, the Red Sox would say an “Our Father” prayer at every road park they played in to honour Lubiniecki. The Red Sox also wore a #33 patch on their jerseys to remember the late pitcher.

“Each coach, we didn’t approach players, but when we knew guys were going through it a little bit, we weren’t coaches anymore,” said Boyenko. “It was more or less person-to-person interaction, a human interaction, rather than a coach-to-player.

“It was more so trying to comfort the person in front of you rather than trying to coach them through it. It was very similar to when your friend loses a family member. You don’t coach them through how to grieve.

“You allow them to grieve, and when they finally show signs that their grieving process is slowly coming to an end or they’re slowly getting over the situation, that is when you start introducing some of the coaching back into it.”

On the field, the Red Sox found themselves floating around the .500 mark for much of the season. Things started to round together as they posted a 7-3 over their final 10 games of the regular season to place third in the East Division with a 29-27 mark. Boyenko said the confidence of the team was high going into the post-season.

“I felt throughout the season it was not like that roles weren’t established, but guys were trying to find where they could make an impact in the game,” said Boyenko, who turned 30 right before the playoffs started. “I feel like come playoff time guys weren’t trying to find that anymore.

“They were more so picking each other up. They knew they could do it. Whether they did it in that particular situation or not, it didn’t matter, because they knew the next guy would succeed in that situation.”

Brody Boyenko is one of the original instructors with Going Yard.

In a best-of-three East Division semifinal series, the Red Sox swept the Medicine Hat Mavericks by scores of 6-2 and 13-7. In the best-of-three East Division Championship Series, the Red Sox faced the Saskatoon Berries, who topped the entire WCBL with a 46-9 mark with their win total setting a new league record for most victories in one regular season.

The Red Sox squeaked out an 8-7 victory in Game 1 at Cairns Field, but the Berries evened the series 1-1 with a sound 8-4 victory in Game 2 at Currie Field. In a series deciding Game 3, the Red Sox used a three-run seventh inning to pull away for a 6-2 victory at Cairns Field.

In the deciding win in Saskatoon, Boyenko had a large number of family and friends in attendance. He said it was special to have them all at the park to see the victory that sent the Red Sox to the league final.

“To be honest, it is always nice when your family is watching, especially in your hometown,” said Boyenko. “When you have to live somewhere else for the summer and they come watch you and your team wins, it is a good feeling.

“It was nice that they got to experience that with me. When you live two-and-a-half hours away from home for the summer, it is not like they can just make every other game. For them to see our team win against the top team in the league and beat them out in playoffs, I thought that was pretty special.”

In the best-of-three WCBL Championship Series, the Red Sox fell 3-2 in 11 innings in Game 1 to the Gulls played at Currie Field. Due to the distance of about 809 kilometres between Regina and Sylvan Lake, it was decided the Gulls, who had homefield advantage for the series, would host Games 2 and 3 of the set.

In Game 2, the Red Sox were down 6-4 going into the ninth inning. They scored six runs in the top of the ninth to ultimately prevail 10-7.

In the series-deciding Game 3, the Red Sox trailed 4-3 after six innings. They scored two in the top of the seventh to go ahead 5-4, and their pitching and defence ensured that score was the game’s final outcome. That victory gave the Red Sox their first WCBL title since winning back-to-back league crowns in 2011 and 2012.

Boyenko said the team’s coaches were proud of the Red Sox players but added there were nervous moments in Game 3. He said the Red Sox got a key hit that squeaked through to the outfield from a hitter in the eighth spot in their lineup during the ninth inning rally in Game 2 that won that contest. Boyenko was aware a similar play could go against the Red Sox once they got in front in Game 3.

Brody Boyenko said his Red Sox experience helps his Going Yard work.

“We won Game 2 by a ground ball to the outfield,” said Boyenko.“Going into that Game 3, we had almost no doubt that it was going to be our game.

“When it came around to the eighth and ninth, those were probably some of the longest innings of the entire season. You are so confident in yourself, but just last game, a simple ground ball won it for us and lost it for them. Going into that last inning when we had to get those three outs, that is all I could think of is it is not over until we get that last out.

“Once we finally got it, it literally felt like the weight of the world was off of our shoulders and mission accomplished. It felt very good.”

These days, Boyenko is back in his regular surroundings at the Indoor Training Centre on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds coaching players as an instructor with Going Yard. He guides players in weight training sessions and works with them in the pitching and batting lanes along with drills on the indoor field turf field. He said his experience with the Red Sox helps coming back to Going Yard.

“It is really nice to return,” said Boyenko, who was the pitching coach with the WCBL’s Swift Current 57s in 2023. “I wasn’t too far away from home, but it is nice to come back to my familiar roots and what I do day to day.

“It is nice to bring back some of the things I even learned as a coach from some of the players. In the summertime, you get players from all over the States, so you never know what coach talks about what and what you can bring back. I’ve been able to learn from some of the players some of the nuances that their coaches teach.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to bring it back and teach it to some of our kids as well.”

Boyenko said the championship win with the Red Sox was the first time in his life he was on a team that won a league title. With how the Red Sox rallied around Lubiniecki’s tragic passing, Boyenko said that the 2025 WCBL season with the Red Sox is something he will take with him forever.

“I would definitely say that was the most memorable just because of the whole Jesse (Lubiniecki) situation,” said Boyenko. “My time in the WCBL, I haven’t won as much as I did with Regina, so obviously, winning is a lot of fun.

Brody Boyenko and the Red Sox pose for WCBL title winning picture.

“I would definitely say the fact that, like I mentioned before, Jesse, and then the fact that we rallied around Jesse and were able to win the league. (It was) very memorable.”

For more information on the Going Yard Baseball Academy, feel free to check out their website at www.gyba.ca. All but the second photo in this piece come courtesy Brody Boyenko.

Going Yard’s Dean aims to make a difference as a coach

Instructor enjoys working with all ages at baseball academy

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Marshall Dean is a popular instructor with Going Yard.

“He cares.”

That is the biggest message Marshall Dean hopes all the baseball players he instructs take with them.

“I like to think my players know I care,” said Dean. “It is not just my job.

“I care about them both on the field and in other aspects of life. I want to teach them how to be men from an early age, not just go through the motions, but work with a purpose. Every day is an opportunity.

“I hope they grow up to just be strong, hard-nosed baseball players. That is what I want is competitive kids that do things the right way and approach the game the right way.”

Having grown up playing minor baseball in Saskatoon and moving on to play at the post-secondary level as a pitcher, Dean reflected that he had a great experience playing baseball. When his playing career wrapped up, Dean wanted to give back to the game by becoming a coach. He aimed to help young players playing the sport in Saskatoon to have similar positive experiences with the game like he had.

After coming on to be an instructor with the Going Yard Baseball Academy in 2016, Dean has developed a reputation for bringing a great joy to training sessions working with players in a wide range of age groups. Some coaches find they work better with either younger players or older players at the post-secondary and professional levels.

As for Dean, the 33-year-old finds he is at his best when he working with players from all different age groups on a weekly basis. He has fun helping players get better, and you would be hard pressed to not see a big smile running across his face during daily practice sessions at the Indoor Training Centre at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

“It helps you as a coach,” said Dean, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighed 190 pounds in his playing days. “It helps you learn different aspects of the game and how to approach different players.

“It has been really fun to coach kids at a young age, set that standard and expectation early and watch them grow into the players that they are now. I’d say that is what I’m most proud of as a coach is the guys that I’ve coached from the time they were 10-years-old and now they’re 16 and 17-years-old men ready to go to college.”

Marshall Dean instructs a group of young pitchers.

No matter how different the ages of the players he works with are, Dean said his approach to working with those athletes is pretty consistent.

“It is a lot different, but it is a lot the same,” said Dean. “It is the same standard you set as far as what the expectation is at practice and the right way to approach the game and your work every day.

“Obviously, it is gentler at the younger age groups, but it is really the same. You practice the right way, you play the right way and you approach every day the right way.”

Of course, Dean only envisioned himself being a player, when he started in the sport. When he discovered the game, his motivation to be in the sport was to be like his two older brothers.

“I’m the youngest of three boys from an athletic family,” said Dean. “My brothers played baseball.

“I fell in love with it early going to their games hanging out in foul territory playing around and just stuck with it. I figured I had a pretty good arm, and it’d be a good option for me.”

He took to being a pitcher early on when he began playing the game. A lot of Dean’s love for the game of baseball comes from the competition of pitcher versus batter.

“It is a thinking man’s game,” said Dean. “It is not just straightforward.

“You have to use your mind a little bit. I always enjoyed that. I enjoy the battle inside the game pitcher versus hitter, pitch to pitch.

“I enjoy the thinking part of it.”

Marshall Dean gives a pointer during a fielding drill.

In Saskatoon’s minor baseball ranks, Dean played out of the Blue Jays zone before joining the Saskatoon Cubs 18U AAA team. With the Blue Jays and the Cubs, Dean had Todd Plaxton as a coach through most of those years in the sport.

Dean said Plaxton was his mentor playing the game, while growing up. The hurler credited a lot of his success to his long time minor baseball coach from his Saskatoon playing days.

“He (Plaxton) coached us the right way really early,” said Dean. “He taught you to respect the game, play hard and work hard.

“I think that is a big part of why I do this today is trying to bring some of that back to these boys and making sure they’re viewing the game the right way, practising and playing the right way.”

While suiting up for the Cubs, Dean got his first experience of playing baseball with adults. From 2006 to 2008, Dean played for the now defunct Saskatoon Yellow Jackets in what is now known as the Western Canadian Baseball League.

These days the WCBL is strictly a summer wood bat league for players from the post-secondary ranks. Back in 2006 to 2008, the WCBL was a summer league in an era where teams could use players from all sorts of age groups, if they were good enough to be on the team. Dean did face players in their late 20s and early 30s with the Yellow Jackets.

“It was pretty wild being a teenager in that league,” said Dean. “Todd (Plaxton) always used to say you’re going to grow some whiskers, and I definitely did.

“I mean playing against grown men you learn a lot really quick good things and bad things.”

After graduating from high school, Dean played for Colby Community College Trojans in Colby, Kansas, from 2009 to 2011. He moved on to throw for the University of Central Missouri Mules in Warrensburg, Missouri. With the U of Central Missouri, Dean completed his bachelor’s degree in physical education and coaching.

Marshall Dean set to the ball during a fielding drill.

In the summer months, Dean returned to Canada to play in the WCBL for the Moose Jaw Miller Express. During those post-secondary playing days, Dean started thinking seriously about becoming a coach in the sport.

“I realized I wasn’t going to be a professional baseball player,” said Dean. “Around the time I was about 20 or 21, I realized that the dream wasn’t necessarily going to come true.

“I just wanted to help guys from Saskatchewan reach their goals. If you have a goal to play college ball or whatever that goal is in baseball, I just wanted to help out back home.”

Upon returning to Saskatoon, Dean started working as an education assistant as a substitute and later full time at Caroline Robins Community School and Dr. John G. Egnatoff School.

He originally wanted to find a coaching spot with the Cubs, but he joined the staff of the Saskatoon Diamondbacks 18U AAA team after getting a call from Matt Kosteniuk. Kosteniuk brought Dean to Going Yard.

Dean has loved every bit of his time with Going Yard starting with the old training warehouse the academy was originally located at on Alberta Avenue before moving to the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds on March 1, 2019.

“It is really cool to work with your buddies that you grew up with,” said Dean. “Obviously, it is really cool to coach with a guy like (MLB alumnus) Andrew (Albers) who you looked up to growing up, and now, he is just your co-worker.

“That has been fantastic. Some of the younger guys that we have coming up that have spent time in professional baseball or very high-level baseball, it is really fun to watch them come back and again just be your co-workers.”

Dean has enjoyed seeing Going Yard grow over the years that included developing the Goats travel team program. Looking to the future, he believes his passion for coaching will always be there.

Marshall Dean gives post-practice talk with a group of players.

“I’ll do this as long as I can,” said Dean. “It is awesome to go to work with your friends every day.

“It is awesome to do what you love. I think a lot of people would look at this job and be jealous of what we get to do every day. We get to have fun with the boys.

“We get to help them grow and watch them grow. I’ll do this for absolutely as long as I can.”

For more information on the Going Yard Baseball Academy, feel free to check out their website at www.gyba.ca.