FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
On Monday, December 19, the Shelter Island school district voted in favor of adding a seventh team to Hamptons Collegiate Baseball (HCB), which makes up a division of the prestigious Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. The team, which currently is without a nickname, will begin play in June 2012.
“In the times we discussed expansion over the years, Shelter Island was always one of the first locales brought up,” said HCB President Brett Mauser. “It’s a wonderful community and the setting is picturesque, so we’re thrilled to bring high-level baseball and free family entertainment to the island this summer and for summers to come.”
Located between the north and south forks of the east end of Long Island, visiting teams will travel by ferry to and from each game. Shelter Island is added less than a month after the Center Moriches Battlecats joined the East End organization. Each will compete for the ACBL Hampton Division crown against the North Fork Ospreys, Riverhead Tomcats, Southampton Breakers, Sag Harbor Whalers and defending champion Westhampton Aviators. Beginning in June, the ACBL season will continue through the first week of August, at which time the league championship will be decided.
In addition to playing 20 home games this summer (not including potential playoff games), the Shelter Island team will host free baseball clinics for children in the community. Shelter Island will be managed by Joe Burke, who starred at St. John’s University before playing seven seasons professionally, including two in the New York Yankees farm system.
HCB alumni include former UConn shortstop Nick Ahmed, 2011 second-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves; former Texas State third baseman Kyle Kubitza, 2011 third-round draft pick of the Braves; and former Stony Brook righthanded pitcher Nick Tropeano, 2011 fifth-round draft pick of the Houston Astros. In 2011, twelve HCB alumni played at the professional level, including in the Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations, as well as the independent Can-Am League.
Hamptons Collegiate Baseball is supported by major sponsors Emil Norsic & Son, Inc., Hampton Jitney, Bridgehampton National Bank, Prudential Douglas Elliman and Lettieri Construction. All HCB games are free to the public.
