PRESS RELEASE – PGCBL President Jeff Kunion announced this morning that the Oneonta Outlaws have once again become part of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.
The team will be owned by Gary Laing of Oneonta, who has successfully managed the group since purchasing the franchise in 2012. A community leader and successful business owner, Laing says owning a baseball team is a dream come true. The Outlaws are a family organization, run with the help of his wife Karen and two sons Chris and Josh.
“I am very excited about joining the PGCBL,not only for the quality of baseball, but the leadership it brings to the plate,” said Laing. “With new GM Joe Hughes taking the lead with baseball operations, the Outlaws look forward to many successful years of baseball at Damaschke Field.”
Hughes, a first team All American at Florida International University, was drafted in the 18th round by the Baltimore Orioles playing several seasons in their minor league system. He has been a successful coach at Oneonta HS for many years, winning more than 425 games as the team’s skipper and a NYS Championship in 2012. As pilot for the Oneonta Outlaws, he led the squad to three straight championship series, winning the NYCBL championship in 2013.
“We are excited for the new challenges ahead of us in the PGCBL. We are hard at work developing a roster of quality ballplayers. Oneonta has a great reputation for having quality summer baseball. And, we are committed to continuing that tradition.”
The Outlaws Head Coach will be Atlee Pearson of Erskine College. Pearson is the NCAA D2 career saves record holder who has pitched professionally in the San Diego Padres minor league system and the El Paso Diablos in the independent American Association. Pearson just completed his third season as Pitching Coach for Eskine and has previously served the Outlaws as their Pitching Coach.
PGCBL President Jeff Kunion is happy to have the Outlaws back in the PGCBL.
“Geographically, it makes sense. They have a great ballpark that fits in with the rest of the PGCBL and it is always beneficial to add an experienced management team to the group,” said Kunion. “The Outlaws consistently field a quality ball club. They were in the NYCBL playoffs the last four years, winning a championship in 2011 and 2013. The club had a handful of MLB draftees last season and led the NYCBL in attendance for the last three years. They are more than ready to step up to the competitive challenges of the PGCBL.”
The team will become part of the PGCBL East Division and will play a 50 game season in 2016
The Oneonta team joins a group of ten elite collegiate teams in upstate New York. Five teams play in former New York Penn League stadiums. The remaining teams play in facilities that have had $1,000,000 plus in renovations.
The PGCBL is affiliated with Perfect Game USA, the largest independent baseball scouting service in the United States.
For more information about the PGCBL, visit http://www.pgcbl.com and follow the league on Twitter, @PGCBLbaseball.
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Sad to see the NYCBL league slowly fade away. I played in that league in 2010 the last summer before the PGCBL split it up. It was a fun league. To me nothing better than a summer playing in 75 degree weather.
I believe that Niagara left the league since ownership and the city were bickering about who should take care of the maintenance of the field at the ballpark. It is not the most stadium in the state, but is nice for the NYCBL or PGCBL.
Nice move for this team…looks like there may be more coming. It’s time NY state had one league.
They *were* one league (NYCBL), until 2011. The PGCBL clubs, which generally played in former minor-league parks and had better attendance, wanted things to be run more like a professional league and broke off.
Most of the remaining NYCBL clubs play at high-school or small-college fields, and tend to be run by volunteer organizations that don’t put a lot of emphasis on generating revenue or turning a profit, beyond what’s absolutely necessary to get them through the year.
Because of the different operating models (among other reasons), I doubt you’ll see one Upstate league anytime soon.
Eastman, thanks for info!! the NYCBL has lost Geneva(both teams) Oneonta, and Niagara for the upcoming season. Just thinking that with now nine teams and the facilities maybe it’s time to merge a bit more and try to get some help for those teams facility wise or financially. I checked the NYCBL site and they removed the above teams from the page. I called a buddy of mine who coached two years ago in that league. Times are getting tough but in summer ball in NY who’s aren’t!?
Yeah, I noticed that Geneva was no longer on the NYCBL site as well. Interesting. I know the PGCBL has wanted to get in there for a while now, so who knows, we may see an announcement shortly that that’s what’s going on.
As for the rest of the NYCBL…a lot of the towns are so tiny and one-horse that there’s just not any money to be made there – so there’s no real point in investing in the franchise or facility, because you’ll never see any return on it.
That said, places like Hornell and Wellsville have had their NYCBL teams for 20 years now, so clearly they find a way to make it work.
And…there’s a PGCBL logo at the top of the Geneva web site: http://www.genevaredwings.com/