There’s an air of familiarity around the Swift Current 57’s clubhouse in the early going of the 2026 Western Canadian Baseball League season.
After missing the playoffs for the last two seasons, the club has decided to lean on a strong contingent of prairie talent to guide them back, including local brothers Kyrell and Rydell Adair, Logan Hammer, Max Bayne, Adam Rowland and Jake Roggensack.
Another player with plenty of punch at the plate is Hudson Unger.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound utilityman played in 36 games for Arkansas State University Mid-South this spring, hitting .319 with five home runs, 19 runs batted in and seven stolen bases.
The familiarity also comes from several fellow Greyhounds joining him for a Western Canadian summer, including Adair (Rydell, that is), Bayne and Cohen Jorgenson.
Unger, who is a former Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) All-Star Game MVP and played in six games for the 57’s in 2025, joined us for our WCBL Season Preview Extravaganza, helping us kick off this season’s 7th Inning Stretch series.
1. How excited are you to get things rolling this season with the Swift Current 57’s?
I’m pretty pumped. It should be a fun summer being back in my hometown with a couple of buddies. I’m excited.
2. You’re entering your first season as a college player after being an affiliate with the squad last year. What did you learn from your time down south that you hope to bring to the 57’s this summer?
I just learned about the level of college baseball compared to the SPBL. It’s definitely a lot tougher and you have to make adjustments constantly throughout the season to have success.
3. What did you learn from that first year of summer ball as an affiliated player?
It’s a busy schedule, for sure. You’re almost on the road every other day and one day off a week is pretty hard. You just have to make sure you’re getting recovery right and sleep well so you can play every day.
4. Do you have any goals or expectations of yourself heading into the summer?
I would like to hit well, maybe over .300, maybe hit a couple of bombs and just be a middle of the order type of bat, hopefully.
5. When you look at that roster, what has you most excited?
I think we have a lot of good players and a good chance to have success. We have a lot of pitchers from a variety of schools with different competition levels. I think that will be good for us.
6. As the local guy, what are you telling those newcomers about what the fans want to see and the kind of effort they expect?
Yeah, obviously the last couple of seasons have been a bit harder, but we’ve had a lot of success before a couple of years ago. We’re known as being a good baseball city, I think. It’s also a tough league as everyone’s a good team, so you really have to go out and compete.
7. What would it mean to you to win a WCBL championship with your hometown Swift Current 57’s?
That would definitely mean a lot. I mean, that’s kind of a dream come true, childhood dream come true, kind of thing. Just to give the city something to be proud about this year. We’ve struggled the last few seasons, so it would definitely be really cool and something I would never forget for the rest of my life.
Tales of Baseball 