Cody Andreychuk, Head Coach (First Year)
A local product is coming home to historic Serauxmen Stadium.
Cody Andreychuk, currently the Head Coach of the University of Pikeville (NAIA, Pikeville, Kentucky), has been named the new top coach with the West Coast League’s Nanaimo NightOwls. He assumes the post immediately.
“Cody is a perfect fit in so many ways to fill the role with Greg Frady stepping down last week,” said General Manager Tina Cornett. “We obviously love that he’s from Nanaimo and will connect with the community very well, but he has a track record of developing players and winning games and will bring that local pride to the NightOwls.”
Andreychuk, who has a degree in Sports Management and a Masters in Business Administration, resides in Pikeville with his daughter Harper.
“I’m grateful and humbled for the opportunity to be the next baseball coach for the Nanaimo NightOwls, and I’d like to thank Jim Swanson and the ownership group for believing in a local guy to come in and lead this program at historic Serauxmen Stadium,” said Andreychuk, 32.
“My daughter and I are excited to be back home on the island for the summer and I look forward to meeting all the fans throughout the season.”
Andreychuk has been head coach at UPike since July of 2021, and his Bears team posted a 30-19 record this past spring. Prior to that, he was at Lindsey Wilson College as both assistant and head coach, and served as an assistant at UPike in 2016 and 2017.
Andreychuk knows summer collegiate baseball well — he was hitting coach and camps coordinator for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod League, the top collegiate summer baseball league.
“Growing up in Nanaimo and playing baseball through the Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association still to this day are some of the most special memories I cherish. I hope we can impact the youth the same way I was impacted growing up playing baseball in Nanaimo.”
Andreychuk is certainly not a stranger to the WCL. In addition to supplying strong UPike players to WCL teams — Riley Paulino and Richtter Castillo among those to be NightOwls — he played for the Kelowna Falcons in 2013, posting a .298 average in 33 games, driving in 17 runs. He played collegiately for the VIU Mariners, and with Tusculum Pioneers of the South Atlantic College before embarking on his coaching career. He batted .437 over 29 games in his first year at Tusculum, with two home runs and 29 RBIs. With VIU, he set records for batting average and triples.
His younger brother Griffin was a star with the Victoria HarbourCats, playing three seasons and having his number retired at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. He helped lead the HarbourCats to a then-league record 40-14 record in 2016, a team that set a WCL mark with 19 straight victories.
GORMAN HEIMUELLER, PITCHING COACH
The NightOwls organization is overjoyed to have one of the best people in baseball and best pitching coaches in the game as the WCL team’s pitching coach, in the person of Gorman Heimueller, a former MLB lefty with decades of service in MLB organizations.
Gorm, now 69yrs old, spent 34 combined years as a pitching coach or coordinator for the Twins, Dodgers, Phillies and Padres, after 10 years as a pro pitcher including time in Venezuela and two years in the starting rotation of the Oakland A’s. Heimueller played college at Cal Poly (with a shortstop named Ozzie Smith behind him), then was signed as an undrafted free agent thanks to stellar outings pitching for senior baseball teams in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
“Gorm brings so much experience to our staff — our pitchers are very fortunate to have Gorm in Nanaimo,” said Swanson. “We share a lot in common in our philosophies, and he’s worked with some of the best pitchers in the game, including guys I had at the NCAA-D1 level. He has playing experience at the top level, and that’s a special attribute to bring to our ball club.”
Heimueller was most recently with the San Diego Padres until cutbacks took place because of the pandemic. The product of Los Angeles now lives in Utah, but has Canadian connections — the 6-4 lefty met his wife Lee Ann in Eston, Saskatchewan when playing summer amateur baseball during his college days, and signed his first contract while playing in Red Deer.
Heimueller signed pro in 1977, and made his MLB debut as a starter on July 12, 1983, going seven-plus innings in a 3-1 Oakland loss against the visiting Baltimore Orioles, a team featuring Hall of Fame players Ripken and Eddie Murray. The A’s that day featured a lineup with Rickey Henderson, Carney Lansford and Davey Lopes.
Heimueller would go on to a 3-6 record with a 4.67 ERA, making 14 starts among his 22 MLB appearances. He then joined the Twins organization (1987-97), later moving to the Dodgers (1998), Phillies (1999-2013) and Padres (2014-2020). He came highly-recommended to the NightOwls through the baseball network of Jim Swanson, the Managing Partner of the NightOwls.
Heimueller also played professionally in Venezuela, and coached in Australia. He has three World Series rings — 1987 and 1991 with Minnesota, and 2008 with Philadelphia — and has an impressive list of pitchers who have grown with his tutelage — Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendricks, a Canadian in Scott Mathieson, Scott Erickson, Willie Banks, Denny Neagle, and Pat Mahomes Sr., father of the NFL star quarterback. Erickson, Hamels and Neagle all received serious Cy Young consideration during their careers.
“The West Coast League is a place that develops future MLB players, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” said the personable Heimueller, who can entertain for hours with stories of his time in the game. “Coaches want to work with players who have a chance to reach that next level, and that’s what the NightOwls put on the field for fans in Nanaimo. Canada has been an important part of my life, meeting my wife on the prairies and developing into a Major League player because of my time there.”
Anthony Houk, Assistant Coach (First Year)
Anthony Houk, 24, is the new Assistant Coach. The former college infielder, from Mount Vernon, Kentucky, is on the University of Pikeville staff with Andreychuk, the local product who is returning home to lead the NightOwls after last week’s announcements.
The NightOwls were blessed to have the same three men on the coaching staff the first three WCL seasons at historic Serauxmen Stadium — original team Head Coach Greg Frady, with Heimueller and assistant Sean FitzGerald, lending tremendous experience and stability to the start of the franchise. Houk will work closely with position players, on defence and hitting, and will be involved in NightOwls youth camps set to come the summer of 2025.
Dr. Jordan Herbison (he/him), Mental Skills/Bullpen Coach
Dr. Jordan Herbison is a Professor at Vancouver Island University whose expertise lies in sport psychology, team dynamics, and overcoming adversity.
His research program aims to understand and optimize group environments to promote quality participation, leadership, and individual’s development of confidence, competence, character, and connection.
As a researcher and an applied sport psychology consultant, Jordan has worked with athletes and teams in a range of sports from amateur to professional to international levels.
Jordan is a two-time NJCAA Div. II World Series participant with the Monroe Community College Tribunes (N.Y.) and alumni of The University of British Columbia Thunderbird’s (NAIA) pitching staff.
During graduate school, Jordan also pitched and served as Pitching Coach with the Queen’s University Gaels of the OUA.
Dr. Herbison is passionate about helping athletes and coaches of all ages improve their mental performance and help them face the inevitable challenges of sport performance.
He looks forward working alongside Coach Frady, Heimueller, Fitzgerald, and the rest of the staff in supporting this summer’s Nanaimo NightOwls team.
