GALION, Ohio — The roster is nearly finalized and the upgrades at Heise Park are ongoing, but there is still plenty of work to do before the Galion Graders open the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (GLSCL) season.
The Graders begin play in the GLSCL on June 4 at Licking County. The home opener is June 6 against the Southern Ohio Copperheads and general manager Mike O’Leary has been busy making preparations for the first-year franchise’s debut.
“Preparations are going well,” O’Leary said. “We’ve added a couple more local guys to the roster and we’re still trying to fill a few spots, but we’ll be ready to go.
“We’ve rebuilt the bullpens and we’re going to put in a warning track. It’s going to be a busy May in terms of getting the field ready.”
The GLSCL began play in 1986 and is sanctioned by Major League Baseball. Notable alumni include injured Cleveland Indians slugger Nick Swisher and Galion’s own J.B. Shuck, a reserve outfielder for the Chicago White Sox.
The 2015 roster will include Lexington graduate Brody Basilone (Sinclair Community College), Galion’s Austin Prosser (Bluffton), Shelby’s Justin Lewis (Otterbein) and Ontario’s Mitch McCristall (Mount Union).
The team will be managed by Ray Neill, the head baseball coach at Sandusky Perkins high school and a GLSCL veteran.
“We’re getting excited,” Neill said last month. “The roster is coming together, but we are looking for host families for our players.”
Players from across the country will be suiting up for the Graders this summer.
“We’ve got a kid from Arizona who is playing at North Dakota State and a couple of guys from Penn State,” O’Leary said. “We’ve also got guys coming up from North Carolina and West Virginia.
“We still need host families and they don’t have to live in Galion. We would be glad to have families from Mansfield or Lexington or Shelby or anywhere else regionally.”
The Graders will play a 44-game schedule beginning in early June and ending July 26. The home schedule is highlighted by a July 5 fireworks show after the game against Southern Ohio.
“We are really looking forward to the upcoming season,” O’Leary said. “It will be here before you know it.”
Anyone interested in hosting a player or sponsoring the team can email galiongraders@gmail.com.
“Preparations are going well,” Mike O’Leary said. “We’ve added a couple more local guys to the roster and we’re still trying to fill a few spots, but we’ll be ready to go.
