The Western Canadian Baseball League was front and center at a Canadian Futures Showcase in Toronto last month.

The ninth annual event at Rogers Centre, home of the Blue Jays included a six-team tournament with college and Major League Baseball draft-eligible players from across Canada, as well as a scout day, prospects game and home run derby.

A pair of postseason contributors in the Okotoks Dawgs run for a title, Eric Hartman and Eric Machej bolstered the Team New Blue squad.

Hartman played four regular season games for Okotoks before shifting into a higher gear in the WCBL finals against the Medicine Hat Mavericks where he batted .375 with five runs batted in and a homer in three playoff games.

At the Canadian Futures Showcase, he finished with the third-quickest 60-metre sprint on scout day, posting a time of 6.59 seconds. In his second game of the tournament, Hartman went 1-for-2 with a single, a sacrifice fly and a stolen base.

Machej, a middle infielder with the Dawgs, got into seven regular season games with Okotoks and batted .438 with four doubles in his 16 playoff at-bats.

Machej was selected to play for Team Jay in the prospects game, as was right-handed pitcher Michael Yusypchuk, a Dawgs Academy product who got into one game for the summer collegiate team in Okotoks this season.

Pote, the interim manager of the Dawgs last season, was a member of the Team Black coaching staff.

Since 2013, 117 Canadian Futures Showcase participants have been drafted by major league teams and more than 600 have received post-secondary scholarships.

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