Baseball is officially back and it has been a fun week seeing our Bells in the bigs shining. Along with plenty major league moments, our college alum and future Bells are still rocking through the college baseball season. Let's catch you up on all the things Bells did this week.

Nico Azpilcueta hits his 7th πŸ’£

The future Bellingham Bells first baseman showed his power off this week with three home runs since last weeks roundup. Azpilcueta has hit seven bombs on the year so it is safe to say we are excited to see how his power fares at Joe Martin Field this summer.

Ryan Heppner wins CCC Pitcher of the Week πŸ†

Although Ryan Heppner was the closer for the Bells, this season he has returned to starting games for the University of British Columbia. For the Thunderbirds this week Heppner threw a seven-inning start and recorded 12 strikeouts while only giving up one run. Heppner aptly won his first Cascade Collegiate Conference Pitcher of the Week award.

UCLA jumps to #14 thanks to some Bells alum

The UCLA Bruins have won 12 of their last 13 games and have won seven straight and that can be credited to some help from former Bellingham Bells. UCLA's roster features seven former Bells (Roman Martin, CJ Bott, Will Goldberg, Logan DeGroot, Dean West, Toussaint Bythewood, Cody Delvecchio). Roman Martin cranked his first home run of the season during this run and West left the yard for the third time as well.

Kyle Stowers hits the walk-off on Opening Day

The 2017 Bell Kyle Stowers narrowly grabbed a major league spot in the Miami Marlins outfield, but he proved why he deserves to be in the bigs with a clutch RBI for the Marlins to beat the Pirates 5-4. It was one of three walk-offs to begin the Marlins season and Stowers hit the first walk-off of 2025.

Matt McLain is so back

The 2018 Bell Matt McLain finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, but missed all of 2024 due to injury. In 2025, he's back and proving 2023 was no fluke. McLain's first hit of the year came on a home run against the San Francisco Giants and off of three-time Cy Young pitcher Justin Verlander. And if that wasn't impressive enough he went on to homer in his next two games as well. It's exciting to see McLain back in the bigs and shining.

Austin Shenton walks it off with a πŸ’£

The former two-time Bell (2016, 2017) Austin Shenton began 2025 with the Tacoma Rainiers, the Seattle Mariners AAA affiliate. In the third game of the season, Shenton cranked a three-run home run to right to earn a 5-2 walk-off win over the Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers AAA affiliate). Shenton will have to continue to swing the bat well if he wants to make it back to the bigs for the M's whose first and third base positions have question marks beginning 2025.