The First Summertime in the L.B.C.

LONG BEACH, CA – Drowning in champagne and ink, Long Beach enjoyed a trip to the Pioneer League Championship Round in its inaugural season accompanied by loads of individual accolades. The celebrations followed playoff-clinching wins, record-setting milestones, and a contract signed with a Major League Baseball organization.

The Small Wins

By the time the corks popped out of the bottles after the semi-final series, starting pitcher Jack Martin reflected that the Coast began the mission and carried through as brothers. He said, “[I] grinded with these boys for 90-whatever games. This is what we’ve been thinking about. It’s awesome to see it all come together.”

For the second-year P.B.L. right-hander, 2026 represented a breakout campaign – he improved his earned run average from 9.00 in 2025 with Yuba-Sutter to 5.23. The New Jersey native marked his first season with more than 10 starts since his 2024 college trek at Ramapo. Martin even climbed into the win column seven times, the second-best mark on the team.

The Plea

The only person who bested Martin in the W category, Nathan Hemmerling left with a 9-0 record and the first 100-strikeout season in team history. He characterized his stat line as one of self-confidence, explaining, “I’m going to show up and do my thing; they’ve gotta show up and do theirs. I’m going to throw my best, and hopefully my best is better than theirs.”

Hemmerling’s triple-digit mark took more than just careful command on the field, but the experience arrived as a result of his debate skills. He begged manager Troy Percival to keep him in the game in the Friday, Sept. 4 drubbing of Modesto. Beginning the contest with 93 Ks by that point in the season, the highest tally on the club, the Riverside native struck out five batters through five innings.

Once that frame passed, the Coast began thinking about the playoffs that followed in the next week. Long Beach personnel discussed the high likelihood of facing that same Roadsters team in the playoffs, entertaining the idea of limiting the exposure of their top pitchers to that lineup. As a result, five innings looked like enough for the L.B.C.’s ace. Submarine pitcher Steven Ordorica began loosening up.

Already leading 5-0, the argument arrived with insurance. ‘Sure,’ decided Percival. ‘You can try out the sixth.’ Hemmerling cut down his first batter on three pitches, however he recorded the next pair of outs on balls in play.

Well, 99 simply would not do.

Now ahead 6-0, Ordorica would have to continue to wait. The team leader in appearances at 49, the right-hander waited in the bullpen more than any other Long Beach pitcher.

Hemmerling coaxed one more inning out of his coaching staff.

Kicking off the first batter of the seventh with ball one, the action in the arm barn continued, looking like the opportunity may have to wait even longer. Hemmerling, however, rebounded by attacking the strike zone. Roadsters shortstop Jacob Lojewski fenced away a couple of pitches, making contact, but falling behind in the count 1-2. Hemmerling forced one more swing out of the Modesto middle infielder, sweeping by with strike three.

Percival stalked out of the dugout to pull the starter, but the audience ensured that the manager would not be the only person jumping to his feet. The scoreboard flashed the news to the stands that Hemmerling hit 100, bringing a crowded Blair Field to an ovation.

The Staff

Finishing fifth in the league in strikeouts, Hemmerling joined the pitching crew as just one of an elite group near the top of the league in a slew of individual categories. Both Martin and Hemmerling carved their way to the top 10 in wins, closer Zach Voelker made history with a trendsetting 22 saves, and his name appeared as one of four on the leaderboard in E.R.A.

With left-hander Brett Wozniak, Ordorica, and righty Cole Percival, Voelker helped elevate Long Beach to distinction as the only team in the P.B.L. with more than two individuals among the league’s best 10. Wozniak’s 4.07 line ended as ninth, Percival’s 3.95 wound up seventh tied with Ordorica, and Voelker finished in fourth at 3.35.

That makes it no small wonder that the Coast set the standard in both E.R.A. with a team line of 5.31 and in W.H.I.P. (walks-and-hits-per-innings-pitched) at 1.588.

Building that clean line, the L.B.C. factored in seven shutouts and 27.2 consecutive scoreless innings.

Between the end of the top of the seventh inning against the Freebirds on Saturday, Jul. 18 and the top of the eighth on Wednesday, Jul. 22 vs. the Ballers, the Coast pitching staff complemented their zero runs allowed by surrendering only 15 hits and six walks with a whopping 22 strikeouts.

The Kids

In the middle of that stretch, left-hander Matthew O’Brien shined with 7.1 scoreless innings. A month and a week earlier, his college teammate at U.C., Riverside Jaxon Byrd shut the door on a shutout in his professional debut. A third first-year from the Highlanders, sidearm righty Marco DiGirolamo began his American tour with three-straight appearances without a run allowed. He debuted for the Coast after 11 appearances for the Paderborn Untouchables of the German Bundesliga.

14 rookies made their professional debut for Long Beach in 2026, but five of the only six remaining on the roster by the playoffs all played under Percival during his tenure as a coach at U.C., Riverside.

A fourth rookie out of U.C.R., outfielder Robert Pitts, took time to marinate before his tear that characterized the end of the season. The 2023 walk-on at the University of Michigan ripped five hits in the last three games of the regular season. A transfer to Riverside in 2025, Pitts supported his college buddies in the post-season, recording a pair of knocks in his lone appearance in Game One of the 2026 Pioneer League Championship Round against Billings.

Appearing in just 30 games between the regular season and playoffs, Pitts emphasized the need to remain at the top of his game. He explained, “No matter what, I’m always ready. No matter what the situation is, I feel like I’m playing – even when I’m not – because I’m able to watch the game, I’m able to see the flow of the game, and I’m just ready to come in.”

The fifth, catcher David Whittle debuted on Wednesday, Jul. 8. His first ball in play never touched the ground inside the grounds of Blair Field, however it grounded four runs.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Whittle said of hitting a grand slam in his first professional plate appearance. “I’ve been working hard since I got the call here, and I feel like it’s paid off, and I’m so happy to just see that.”

These achievements swarmed all over the roster.

The Records

“Earlier in the season, I remember laughing about it,” reflected Zach Voelker when asked about breaking the league’s record for saves. At that point, he shared that it was, “the last thing I was thinking about.”

“Once it was actually attainable and people were talking about it, it was cool to finally do it and kind of have that over and not weighing on me.”

Finishing the season with 22 saves, Voelker raced to the finish line to surpass the previous mark of 19, set only a season prior. The flamethrower enjoyed four stretches of at least three-consecutive saves during the year, the longest of which he etched into record within the final three weeks of the campaign.

At 18 such decisions, Voelker entered the final road trip of the season one shy of the mark. With a save in Modesto on Tuesday, Aug. 25, he wasted no time once the week flipped to Oakland.

In 2025, the Ballers’ backdoorman Connor Sullivan set the line, and in 2026, Voelker re-set the record on the B’s’ turf at Raimondi Park. The Long Beach State alum nabbed the Pioneer League’s first 20-save season with a scoreless ninth inning on Thursday, Aug. 28.

Left fielder Eddy Pelc saw the plate just once in that 11-8 win. He pinch hit for shortstop Anthony Mata in the sixth inning, drawing a four-pitch walk.

“I didn’t even know it was a milestone until someone told me,” Pelc explained shortly before creating the “100 Hits - 100 Walks Club.”

That select group became a reachable reality after Pelc slapped a solo homer against Yuba-Sutter on Thursday, Aug. 13. Slashing his 100th hit, he had already set the league record for walks. The Grand Canyon University product’s 99 (at that point) eclipsed the milestone by 13. His club would enter existence during the following game, finishing at 120 free passes by the end of the regular season with 112 knocks.

Pelc also began the season by reaching base in 60-straight affairs. With his streak of 15 to end 2025 with the Idaho Falls Chukars, the Huntington Beach native wrapped up with a stretch of 75 in total, nine shy of Hall of Fame Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams’ Major League bar of 84.

100-100 stood tall, and 20-50 marked another number the P.B.L. had not yet seen. Center fielder Emilio Corona’s break for third base in the bottom of the fifth inning on Monday, Sept. 7 made for a highlight that rain had already postponed for over a day.

Rain in SoCal? Unheard of. A season with at least 20 home runs and 50 stolen bases? Well, that had never been done.

Sinking his cleats into the mud of the warning track on Sunday, Sept. 6, Corona joined his teammates in staring at the clouds hovering over the would-be final game of the regular season. With 49 steals in tow, his shot at a first for the league waded in waterlogged jeopardy.

The 1:05 p.m. start time became a 4:00 p.m. question mark, and that turned into an evening text to a team that had left the ballpark. That notice read that the Coast and Roadsters would re-take the field at 4:00 p.m. the following day.

The 24-year-old snapped a two-out RBI double in the fifth. He took a couple of jumps further and further away from the keystone base before slamming his cleats into the dirt and churning the turf for the hot corner. He dove head first into third long before the throw from the catcher arrived.

“That was definitely one of the goals I had set for myself earlier in the year,” the University of Arizona alum recalled. With 27 home runs, he tied slugger Cuba Bess for the team lead. With exactly 50 swipes, he led the entire Pioneer League.

The Fans

When Corona slugged a solo home run in Game One of the 2026 Championship Series, he brought a sold out crowd to its feet.

Long Beach enjoyed four sell-outs during its inaugural season, the first of which packed the bleachers on Tuesday, Jun. 2: the home opener.

A 13-4 drubbing of the Mobiles, the L.B.C. began its tenure at Blair Field on a high note. The three sold out games in the regular season all resulted in wins… not just for the “Coast.”

Trading in the teal and cream Coast uniforms a couple times per week, Long Beach took the field in black, white, and silver threads to rebrand as the “Long Beach Regulators.”

Rap legend Warren G graced the L.B.C. fans with two performances on the field throughout the season, shouting “Regulators!” to an ocean of fans who, on cue, responded as one, “Mount up!”

All in all, 73,236 fans (65,435 in the regular season, alone) stomped, laughed, and cheered their way through the front gates of Blair Field. That means that the seats supported 1,331 people per game (1,284 during the regular season).

The Rise

15,266 of those fans had seen Coast baseball in Long Beach by the time that gates opened on Sunday, Jun. 21. The team found its roster one pitcher lighter that day after reliever Julien Hernandez made team history.

The day prior, Hernandez hugged a phone to his ear while leaning over the railing in front of the third base dugout.

“This is something you dream about everyday, and to have this be my current reality and to head off on this next step in my journey, it’s incredibly humbling,” recapped Hernandez.

“[Troy Percival] called me into his office, and had just gotten off the phone with the Diamondbacks and let me know that I was heading there.”

Earning his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oregon on Wednesday, Jun. 10, Hernandez followed up his academic accolade by handling the phone call that would decide his immediate future less than two weeks later.

Despite the good news and the ticket to the Single-A Visalia Rawhide, the right-hander found himself in no hurry to leave. After sitting in the bullpen for one more game, he said, “I’m really grateful for all these guys. They’ve made me a better baseball player. They’ve made me a better human being, and I wouldn’t be there without them.”

The Individuals

Some other season highlights include Emilio Corona hitting the team’s first long ball on Tuesday, May 19 at Yuba-Sutter, right-hander Gary Grosjean earning the win in that same inaugural game, left-hander Garrett Van Deventer becoming the first player in Coast history to pitch a complete game in a 14-1 win over Oakland on Thursday, Jul. 2, and first baseman Cooper Vest blasting the first playoff homer against Modesto on Thursday, Sept. 10.

Starting pitcher Nick Bautista traded show-stopping performances with Nathan Hemmerling through three nine-K outings surrounding Hemmerling’s team-standard 10-strikeout showing against the Freebirds on Saturday, Jun. 18.

Cuba Bess, right fielder Matthew Bardowell, second baseman Jacob Jablonski, and Cooper Vest all battered multiple grand slams among the team’s total of 11. Both of Bess’s arrived in the first leg of the Thursday, Jul. 30 double-header at Ogden.

Five “Coasters” earned weekly honors with catcher Thomas McCaffrey working his way to the league’s second Hitter of the Week, Zach Voelker driving towards the third Pitcher of the Week, Jack Martin accomplishing the same feat for Week Four, Matthew O’Brien winning the honor for Week 10, and Nathan Hemmerling doing so in Week 13.

Including the win in the final contest of the first half, which clinched home field advantage in the playoffs, O’Brien earned the Pioneer League’s honor for Pitcher of the Month in July.

44-year-old pitching coach Jerome Williams exited retirement for one inning on Thursday, Jul. 23, dealing a no-hit first inning against Oakland.

The Numbers

Amidst all the stand-out moments, the inaugural campaign wrapped up with a lengthy countdown:

• 155 home runs hit between the regular season and playoffs,

• 101 game decisions,

• 100 games played,

• 69 total wins,

• 60-straight games with left fielder Eddy Pelc reaching base,

• 55 home games,

• 52 post-season and regular season outings for Steven Ordorica,

• 50 stolen bases for Emilio Corona,

• 46 different players taking the field,

• 40 contests with 10 or more runs scored,

• 37 wins on the way to winning the First Half Pennant,

• 32 California natives playing for the L.B.C.,

• 27 regular season homers for Cuba Bess and Corona,

• 22 regular season saves for Zach Voelker,

• 20 series wins,

• 17 comeback victories,

• 15 hits from third baseman Benjamin Rosengard over the final nine games against Modesto,

• 14 professional debuts,

• 13 Julien Hernandez appearances before Arizona picked him up,

• 12-straight wins from Tuesday, May 26 through Sunday, Jun. 7,

• 11 hits per game as an offense,

• 10 individual multi-home run performances,

• nine winning decisions for the team-leader Nathan Hemmerling,

• eight pitchers with more than 50 innings thrown,

• seven team shutout wins,

• six triples for Corona,

• five batters with more than 10 homers,

• four sell-out crowds,

• three walk-off wins,

• two live performances from Warren G, and

• one successful trip from start to finish in a Pioneer League campaign.