Photo Credit: Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL)
Another high-level baseball team is coming to Niagara.
Dead Red Sports and Entertainment Group is thrilled to announce that Summer Collegiate Baseball is coming to St. Catharines, starting in June of 2025.
The new St. Catharines team will join the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL), marking the first-ever Canadian franchise in the league’s history. The team will compete in the West division of the PGCBL, and all home games will be played at the historic George Taylor Field.
“It’s an all-star league for all-star players,” said Team Owner Mal Romanin on the Niagara Sports Report on Newstalk 610 CKTB.
“If you have an elite player in division 1, two or three, in summer they have to play in these leagues to improve their draft stock – basically this a training ground for pro baseball. You play everyday just like in the major leagues or pro baseball.
This is their first taste of going (playing) everyday. You’re seeing best on best.”
Romanin, a Thorold native, also worked 12 years for the Toronto Blue Jays in their communications department.
The new team provides a fantastic opportunity for Canadians, who play at US and Canadian colleges, to play summer baseball in Ontario and face extremely competitive American teams. The Team looks forward to working with the Canadian Premier Baseball League (CPBL) and other elite programs to maintain close contact with their alumni.
St. Catharines has a long and storied tradition with baseball. From 1986 to 1999, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Minor League “A” team played at George Taylor Field in the New York-Penn League. Many notable Major League Baseball players—including Carlos Delgado, Pat Hentgen, Vernon Wells, and Jeff Kent—began their careers in St. Catharines.
A ‘name the team contest’ is underway and Romanin is pleasantly surprised with some of the entries thus far.
“Everything is on the table,” Romanin said. “Even the first name of the team, we could go with St. Catharines, we could brand the team with Niagara for the region,
The contest will run through January 2, and obviously one lucky winner will get a nice prize pack that will involve a jersey, some nice merchandise and some tickets.
I will say we’re not looking for tigers or your general bird references, we’re looking for something a little more fun, and a little more unique.
“We’ve had some great reaction already, and some great responses.”
Visit deadred.ca to submit your nomination today.
Romanin adds a meet and greet with the ownership group, and other members of the organization will be announced in the New Year.
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) was founded in 2010.
The PGCBL is the largest and most successful Summer Collegiate Baseball league in New York State, and now Canada.
The league consists of 16 teams competing in the East and West divisions. Perfect Game (PG), the world’s largest and most
comprehensive baseball scouting organization, partners with the PGCBL to help develop the careers of talented high school and college baseball players.
“We’re coming. There’s a lot of elite players in Canada and our goal is to get as many Canadian players as we can,” added Romanin.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
