West Coast Collegiate Baseball League to begin in 2005

A new summer collegiate baseball league has taken root in the Pacific Northwest and will open play June 2005. The summer amateur league is a first of its kind on the West Coast, as the newly formed West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. The WCCBL will feature only college players and apply for NCAA certification this winter. Founding members are the Bend Elks, Aloha Knights, Bellingham Bells,Kelowna (BC) Falcons, Kitsap (Wa) Blue Jackets, Spokane RiverHawks and Wenatchee AppleSox. The league will be headquartered in Wenatchee and be the first NCAA certified summer league west of the Rocky Mountains.

Jim Dietz, former San Diego State head baseball coach, will act as the league’s commissioner. Dietz, a native of the northwest, managed SDSU for 31 years, guided the Fairbanks Goldpanners of the Alaska League to four NBC World Series titles and is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The new league features the 2004 NBC World Series champion Aloha Knights and the Pacific International League (PIL) 2004 champion Bend Elks and 2003 champion Wenatchee AppleSox. Bend, Wenatchee and Bellingham led the PIL in attendance last season as each club drew crowds of over 1,000 consistently.

The league will be dedicated to player development and to providing affordable summer entertainment to its member communities.

“The Pacific Northwest is an ideal spot for summer collegiate baseball. The weather is the absolute best and our member towns are diverse and hungry for baseball. We expect to play the best baseball in the West,” said Wenatchee AppleSox owner Jim Corcoran.