A hometown listing of Sudbury (Ontario) will garner some attention on the back of the Gavin Roy baseball card.

These days, however, it’s the impressive numbers that are being posted by the local product that are causing baseball watchers both north and south of the border to take notice.

Making his debut as an NCAA Division I junior with the Washington State Cougars after spending two years with the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds in Kansas, the 21 year old slick fielding middle infielder was expecting a stretch of acclimatization as he cleared another barrier.

Not that the process would be rendered any easier with the Cougars opening their schedule in February with a three game set, on the road, against the Arkansas Razorbacks – only the top ranked team in the country as I pieced this story together in mid-April.

Through his first 11 games of the year, Roy registered 7 hits – but with five of those coming in a two game span, the Humanities Major (with a Sports Management Minor) was be held hitless in seven separate outings.

From March 2nd to March 25th, however, he would string together a 13-game hitting streak before going 0/2 against Nevada and then reaching base safely again in eight straight games. Two days after we spoke, the product of the Sudbury Voyageurs system belted his third home run of the season, a grand slam no less against the New Mexico Lobos.

Roy has been the Washington State starting shortstop in each and every one of their 33 battles to date. This is uncharted territory for baseball talent from northern Ontario, though the always gracious graduate of St Charles College (spending the bulk of his H-S years at Ecole secondaire catholique l’Horizon) is seemingly handling it all very much in stride.

“Starting the year against Arkansas, facing top end talent like that was cool to see – but it was an adjustment with pitch velocity and stuff like that,” suggested Roy. “The curve balls are a little better, the fastballs are a little harder.”

“It was a matter of getting some at-bats under my belt and getting used to that.”

Thankfully, the young man who has spent the past few summers in the States, honing his skills even further, was fairly confident his defensive game would play, even in the NCAA Division I ranks.

“In the field, it felt pretty natural all the way through,” said Roy. “For me, the biggest thing is being ready every pitch. My footwork is really good.

I try and get my feet moving towards first base as much as possible. That gets momentum going towards first and allows me to get better throws.”

The multi-sport talent who spent time with hockey and lacrosse as a very young lad, adding volleyball and other sports to the mix in his teenage secondary school years has always made the most of the opportunities he’s been given, his being a vastly different route to WSU than most of his American teammates.

“They do an outstanding job with the program we have in Sudbury,” said Roy, commending the work of Jean-Gilles Larocque and staff through the Baseball Academy and Voyageurs programs.

“We don’t have that many resources, but we use what we have to the best of our abilities. You just try and get better each day and try not to be super results oriented. Stick with the process, keep working hard and good things will come.”

There is little doubt that a starting gig in Pullman (Washington) is about as good as Roy could have ever imagined when he opted to devote two years to the junior college (JUCO) pathway at CCCC, displaying some patience with the steps needed to get to where he ultimately wanted to go.

“I wouldn’t have done it any other way,” said Roy, looking back on a pair of school years in Concordia, Kansas. “I’m really happy with how it went for me. I kind of needed to develop a little more at the JUCO level, both physically and mentally. I don’t think I was fully mature enough to be playing Division I baseball yet.”

With the wheels already set in motion for Roy to play in the Cape Cod League this summer, one of the premier summer collegiate level venues in all of the country, the 5’9” right-handed hitter who started the season in the two slot but is now piling up the RBIs, hitting sixth, is honestly trying to take it a day at a time – as cliché as that sounds.

“I’m really lucky to be doing this – and I am really grateful,” he said. “I’m trying to have as much fun with this as I can and try and be the best leader and teammate that I can be. Hopefully, I will get drafted (2026), but if not, I’ll keep doing what I am doing and keep getting better every day.”