There is exciting news coming out of the Canadian College Baseball conference this offseason.  The Conference is expanding once again to nine teams.   The board of governors approved the addition of the University Baseball Club at UBC to join for the 2026 championship season.

The University Baseball Club will have student athletes attending the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.  New head Coach Devery Van De Keere will lead the program.  He has been a part of the UBC Thunderbirds program since 2020.  Coach Van De Keere played collegiately at Phoenix College before transferring to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.  He then played professionally with the Kansas City Royals organization in the minors at rookie level for two years in 2006 and 2007.  Joining him on the staff are Lichel Kirakawa-Kao, Shawn Schaefer,  Lucciano Letteri- Strength coach, Eric Hegadoren,  and Ty Penner.

“We are excited to bring another fantastic athletic and academic opportunity to the Canadian College Baseball Conference,” says CCBC President Kevin Kvame.  “The CCBC continues to grow and strengthen with some of the best academic opportunities in the country, coupled with competitive collegiate baseball programs.  These programs provide a viable option for athletes to continue to progress with baseball and pursue their academic endeavours in Canada.”

Along with the expansion to nine teams, the CCBC board of governors almost approved the expansion of the conference schedule from 32 games to 36 games.  The schedule will feature each program competing in a balanced home and home schedule over 2 years ,with the exception of an extra 2 games against programs 2 closest opponents each year.  

To allow for the expanded schedule the Canadian College World Series has been pushed back a weekend.  It will be hosted in Lethbridge, Alberta at Spitz Stadium May 22nd-25th.

Finally, the last change for the 2026 season and beyond is the CCBC moving to a 6 teams Canadian College World Series.  3 teams will be eliminated after the regular season.

“There are some big changes for the conference for 2026 and beyond,” adds Kevin Kvame, “with the expanded schedule, extra week of conference play, and now eliminating teams after the regular season, the board of governors is excited to see the CCBC continue to be a very competitive conference.  We are trying to provide the best college baseball experience whilst managing geographical, weather and financial challenges in Canada.”

The CCBC will open the regular season in 2026 on March 20th in Kelowna, BC, Vancouver, BC, Abbotsford, BC and Kamloops, BC.