IAN CHURCHILL

BY NIALL O’DONOHOE / PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK STEFFENS

2023 Canadians pitcher Ian Churchill makes his way to the mound in the latest instalment of C’s Chat.

Churchill’s journey to pro ball started in his hometown of Santa Barbara, California where he attended San Marco High School. Striking out 156 batters and posting an earned run average of 2.51 over three years, Churchill earned first-team All-Conference honours in his senior season.

Churchill attended Santa Barbara City College in 2018 and struck out 65 batters in 66 innings but he really found his stride in summer college ball. He went 7-0 with a 1.55 ERA and had a strikeout-walk total of 44-9 in 40-2/3 innings for the Mat-Su Miners. He was named an Alaska League All-Star and was rated as that circuit’s fourth-best prospect by Baseball America, citing “his feel for pitching and ability to generate swings and misses without electric stuff is what impressed evaluators the most”. That was the springboard to a banner 2019 season as Churchill won eight of 10 decisions with a 1.96 ERA and one save for the Vaqueros after striking out 98 batters and walking 27 in 82-2/3 innings. That led to Churchill taking home CCCAA (California Community College Athletic Association) Pitcher of the Year award and receiving ABCA (American Baseball Coaches Association) All-America, All-State and AllSouthern California honours.

The 2020 season saw Churchill head to Tucson, Arizona join the Arizona Wildcats where he struck out 15 batters over 11-2/3 innings to go along with a 3.09 ERA before the season was cut short by the pandemic. In 2021, Churchill pitched just 13-2/3 innings and struck out 12 batters. He threw a shutout inning against Mississippi in the NCAA Tucson Super Regional and got to pitch against Stanford in the College World Series.