Logo courtesy of the Bellingham Bells
Gonzaga Trio to Join the Bellingham Bells this Summer
January 20, 2019
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Bellingham Bells have announced three more additions to their 2019 roster, two of which aided the Bells in reaching the West Coast League playoffs in 2018. Outfielders Jack Machtolf and Guthrie Morrison return, while right-handed pitcher Gabriel Hughes is set to make his Bells debut this summer.
"We are excited to have both Guthrie and Jack return for another summer,” Bells’ manager Bob Miller said. “They are both very talented players that will provide valuable experience. Guthrie has great speed and covers a lot of ground in center field. Jack is a good left-handed hitter and should be a force in our lineup. "
Machtolf, a six-foot redshirt sophomore at Gonzaga, returns to Bellingham after appearing in 25 games last season.
Machtolf was a regular on the base paths during the 2018 Bells season, amassing 18 walks.
A Nine Mile Falls, Wash. native, Machtolf made his collegiate debut for the Bulldogs last spring, finishing the year with a .222 batting average, two doubles and a homerun.
Guthrie Morrison returns to the Bells after a summer in which he appeared in 48 games in the Bells’ outfield.
The five-foot-eleven-inch Seattle native hit .237, and finished with 21 walks and nine steals, which were both good for second on the team. He also played a stellar defense, concluding the summer with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Morrison now finds himself in his junior year at Gonzaga after two standout seasons at Edmonds Community College in Lynwood, Wash.
As a center fielder for the Tritons, Morrison appeared in 42 games, hitting a team-high .370. He also led Edmonds in hits (64), stolen bases (26) and finished second on the team with 37 RBIs. For his efforts, he was named Pacific Association All-America Second Team, 2018 ABCA/Rawlings Pacific Association Northwest All-Region First Team, First-Team All-NWAC and was also named to the 2018 All-NWAC Gold Glove Team.
Hughes, currently a senior at Renaissance High School in Meridian, Idaho, is coming off a spring in which he was named Idaho’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
The Eagle, Idaho native, and Gonzaga commit, went 7-1 on the hill in 45.2 innings pitched during his junior year at Rocky Mountain High School. He struck out 59 batters to go along with a sterling 1.84 ERA, while also batting a team-high .462 with four homeruns and 38 RBIs.
“We are very excited to add Gabriel Hughes to our roster,” Bells’ pitching coach Jim Clem said. “Gabriel is a talented young pitcher who throws hard and has a good three pitch mix. It’s exciting to know he is a strike thrower who projects well in any role we might need to use him in. We expect Gabriel to be a big help to our staff this summer.”
The six-foot-four-inch Hughes will get his first taste of collegiate baseball in Bellingham before joining the Bulldogs for his freshman year next fall.
Machtolf, Morrison and Hughes will don the Bells uniform for the first time on June 4 against the Kelowna Falcons at Joe Martin Field.
*Bellingham Bells press release edited by The Doug Lange Network
