Sport Baseball CEO Jeff Kunion Country United States | Founded 2010 No. of teams 13 Continent North America | |
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2010. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. Players are not paid so as to maintain their college eligibility. Each team plays an eight-week, 50 game schedule from June to August with playoffs in early August. The league's level of play, while amateur, is considered to be comparable to the professional short season leagues.
Contents
History
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League was founded in the fall of 2010 when seven New York Collegiate Baseball League teams left that league. For an even number a new team was placed in Newark, New York. The league is in conjunction with Perfect Game USA, baseball's largest scouting service. The eight founding members of the PGCBL were the Albany Dutchmen, Amsterdam Mohawks, Cooperstown Hawkeyes, Elmira Pioneers, Glens Falls Dragons Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs, Newark Pilots and Watertown Wizards. The league's first season was completed in the summer of 2011.
2011 season
The eight teams were broken down into two divisions, PGCBL East and PGCBL West. The East comprised Albany, Amsterdam, Glens Falls and Mohawk Valley. The West was made up of Cooperstown, Elmira, Newark and Watertown. Glens Falls and Cooperstown were the regular season division champions in the PGCBL East and West respectively. Glens Falls, Cooperstown, Amsterdam and Newark qualified for the league playoffs. Newark defeated Amsterdam, two games to one, to win the very first PGCBL championship.
2012 season
In 2012, the league expanded to nine teams with the addition of the Oneonta Outlaws. The two-division format was replaced by a single nine-team division with the top four teams in the league regular season standings qualifying for the playoffs. Amsterdam won 35 of 47 regular season games and captured the regular season championship. Amsterdam, Glens Falls, Newark and Mohawk Valley qualified for the postseason. Amsterdam swept Glens Falls to win its first league title. The Mohawks finished the summer ranked third nationally in Perfect Game's Summer Top 30 poll.
2013 season
The 2013 season saw a return of the two-division format as 10 teams were broken into East and West divisions. Albany, Cooperstown, Glens Falls, Mohawk Valley and defending champion Amsterdam constituted the East while newcomers Adirondack and Utica joined Elmira, Newark and Watertown in the West. A new playoff format featuring six teams was instituted as the first and second-place finishers in each division were joined for the first time by the third-place finishing team - this led to a down-to-wire playoff chase where the sixth and final playoff spot was not decided until the final night of the regular season. Amsterdam and Watertown overcame slow starts to win division titles; each team captured its first division title in the PGCBL. Albany, Mohawk Valley, Elmira and Newark rounded out the playoff field. Three seeds Albany and Elmira each won opening round playoff games over second-seeded Mohawk Valley and Newark respectively to advance to the divisional finals against Amsterdam and Watertown. Amsterdam edged out Albany and Elmira in back-to-back Game 3's to become the first repeat champion in league history.
Past Champions
2011- Newark Pilots
2012- Amsterdam Mohawks
2013- Amsterdam Mohawks
2014- Amsterdam Mohawks
2015- Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs
2016- Amsterdam Mohawks
Player of the Year
2011- Erick Gaylord, Watertown
2012- Ross Kivett, Glens Falls
2013- John Nogowski, Amsterdam
2014- Josh Gardiner, Amsterdam
2015- Christian Santisteban, Elmira
2016- Joe Genord, Amsterdam
Pitcher of the Year
2011- Dominick Ruscitti, Newark
2012- Chandler Shepherd, Amsterdam
2013- Eann Cox, Cooperstown
2014- Jayson Yano, Newark
2015- Zach Logue, Amsterdam; Kyano Cummings, Elmira
2016- Joe DeSarro, Mohawk Valley; Brennen Smith, Victor
Coach of the Year
2011- Eric Coleman, Cooperstown
2012- Keith Griffin, Amsterdam
2013- Nick Davey, Albany
2014- Mike Armstrong, Newark
2015- Dan Shwam, Victor
2016- Blake Nation, Mohawk Valley
Top Professional Prospect
2011- Erick Gaylord, Watertown (Perfect Game USA)
2011- Josh Anderson, Glens Falls (Baseball America)
2012- Rocky McCord, Amsterdam (Perfect Game USA)
2012- Chandler Shepherd, Amsterdam (Baseball America)
2013- Mike Urbanski, Amsterdam (Perfect Game USA)
2013- Trey Wingenter, Amsterdam (Baseball America)
2014- Jon Escobar, Watertown (Perfect Game USA)
2015- 2015- Kyle Smith, Amsterdam (Perfect Game USA)
2016- Jeff Belge, Amsterdam (Perfect Game USA)
All-Star Game MVP
2011- Cullen Wacker, Mohawk Valley
2012- Giuseppe Papaccio, Amsterdam
2013- Mike Fisher, Mohawk Valley
2014- Kevin Cowan, Glens Falls
2015- Scott Manea, Amsterdam
2016- Robbie Knightes, Glens Falls
All-Star Game Results
2011- East 7 West 4 (July 18, Elmira, N.Y., Dunn Field)
2012- Team Griffin 4 Team Ebright 0 (July 24, Amsterdam, N.Y., Shuttleworth Park)
2013- East 7 West 3 (July 24, Newark, N.Y., Colburn Park)
2014- East 3 West 1 (July 15, Elmira, N.Y. Dunn Field)
2015- East 18 West 2 (July 20, Little Falls, New York, Veterans Memorial Park)
2016- East 9 West 1 (July 20, Albany, New York, Bob Bellizzi Field)