OUA also offers high-level collegiate competition

By Todd Devlin Oct. 15, 2009

There are those who may think the only route to playing high-level baseball in college or university is to go to the United States – whether it be an NCAA Division I, II or III school, or a junior college.

Jeff Lounsbury begs to differ.

He’s the long-time of the Brock University Badgers, who have been in operation since 1994 and have competed in the University Athletics (OUA) league since its formation in 2001. For the past several years, Lounsbury and his fellow coaches in the league have felt the OUA has gone largely underrated.

And the Brock coach has some simple advice for the skeptics.

“Watch a game,” said the veteran skipper. “But also check the rosters on some of these programs. You’re going to all of a sudden say, ‘Whoa, I didn’t know he was here. Whoa, I didn’t know he was here. That kid can play.’”

There are definitely kids who can play. In fact, many of the players that make up the OUA come from the same elite baseball leagues around Ontario that routinely send athletes to the U.S. on full or partial scholarships.

Take Mike Glinka , for example.

Glinka (Kitchener, Ont.) is a fourth-year shortstop for the University of Waterloo, one of seven teams in the OUA. The 22-year-old came up through the Intercounty Terriers program, a team that plays in the Premier Baseball League of Ontario (PBLO).

Out of high school, Glinka received offers from U.S. colleges –- the best coming from Stony Brook University, an NCAA Division I school on Long Island. In the end, he decided not to accept the offer, and instead enrolled at his hometown university, where his father is a professor. He took the tuition break and decided to focus his energy on getting an education (he’ll graduate with a kinesiology degree next year).

But that didn’t mean he had to hang up his spikes. On the contrary, Glinka has enjoyed a solid baseball career in the OUA, batting a combined .312 in four seasons for the while being named a league all-star and most valuable hitter in 2007. Not only that, but he was also selected – along with University of RHP Adam Reynolds (Guelph, Ont.) – to compete for Team Canada at the 2008 World University Games in the Czech Republic.

“Most of the guys who were playing there were U.S. college guys. So, the fact that I could go to Waterloo and still get noticed was pretty amazing,” said Glinka, who went 4-for-9 with five runs scored and four runs batted in during two games at the event.

Scott Ballantyne , the manager of the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, thinks that’s a good indication of just how much talent is in the OUA.

“I think it’s a great testament to the calibre of baseball in our league that we have players representing Canada at such a world class event,” said Ballantyne, who served as an assistant coach at the Games. “They [Glinka and Reynolds] were chosen as the best amongst their group of peers which includes players currently playing in U.S. Division I colleges.”

Like Glinka, Reynolds also fared well at the tournament, tossing eight scoreless against Lithuania in a lopsided 25-0 win. The right-hander allowed just four hits while striking out seven.

Reynolds’ story is similar to Glinka’s. He’s had several offers to play in the U.S. since he was 17 years old. But the never found the right fit, and opted instead to remain in Ontario for his university education.

Despite not going south of the border, he’s still managed to catch the eye of pro baseball scouts. In fact, Reynolds has been approached by representatives from three different major league organizations -- the Blue Jays, Oakland A’s and Milwaukee Brewers -- during the 2009 OUA season alone.

“There were a couple of teams that wanted to sign me right away because I’m 22 years old,” he said. “And normally, if I wasn’t a full-time student I could just sign right away. But because I am, I have to go through the draft.”

From the feedback he’s received, the hard-throwing righty expects to be taken in next June’s draft. The only question is which round.

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Reynolds is, of course, the exception rather than the rule when it comes to players moving on to the pro ranks from the OUA.

Right-handed pitcher Angus Roy (Mississauga, Ont.) was signed as an undrafted free agent by scouts Ray Fagnant and Paul Pelfrey of the Boston Red Sox in 2002 when he was pitching for the University of . Fellow right-hander Jamaal Joseph (Richmond Hill, Ont.), meanwhile, was drafted by the Florida Marlins after scout Alex Agostino spotted him throwing 93 mph at a workout with the .

But up to this point, those two are the only ones who have signed as free agents with a major-league organization straight from the OUA.

There’s certainly no question that playing baseball at a U.S. college offers the best chance at moving on to the next level. Players in the OUA, meanwhile, are focused on their education first and foremost.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t still play at a high level.

For starters, there are a handful of current OUA players who spent last summer playing in the Intercounty Baseball League, a nine-team semi-pro circuit operating in Ontario. Brock’s Mike Walker (Guelph, Ont.) and Laurier’s Elliot Shrive (Rockwood, Ont.) played for the , while Glinka and McMaster’s Graeme Copeland (Guelph, Ont.) suited up for the .

Others included Brock Mickey Campeanu (Mississauga, Ont.) and Matt Martinow (Simcoe, Ont.), who played for the Mississauga Twins, and University of Toronto pitchers Tyler Wilson (Kitchener, Ont.) and Mike Fortuna (Hamilton, Ont.), who played for their hometown teams, the Kitchener Panthers and Hamilton Thunderbirds, respectively.

But in some ways, that merely scratches the surface of the talent seen in the OUA in 2009.

Walker won the regular season batting title with a .468 mark in 17 games, but Toronto’s Chris Dahiroc (Ajax, Ont.) -- .417 in 18 games -- and Western’s Andrew Thomson (Brampton, Ont.) -- .413 in 18 games -- weren’t far behind. McMaster’s Chris Piccini (Mississauga, Ont.) led the league in runs, while teammate Alex McGregor (Ottawa, Ont.) took the RBI title.

Campeanu posted the lowest earned run average (1.28 in 28 2/3 IP) among starting pitchers with 25 or more innings, but there were several other impressive marks across the league, including McMaster’s Andrew Morales (Toronto, Ont.) -- 1.38 ERA in 39.0 IP -- and Western’s Jordan Townshend (London, Ont.) -- 1.42 ERA in 38.0 IP. Reynolds led the league with 45 strikeouts in 32 innings.

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The OUA has always had its share of talented players. But there are many who think the league has gotten better in recent seasons. One of them is manager Mike Lumley.

“The last two years it has improved leaps and bounds,” said Lumley, a former minor- league pitcher in the organization. “We used to run teams into the ground ... literally, 10, 13 stolen bases a game. And then all of a sudden it was gone. It seemed every team had a good and pitchers were a little bit better coming to the plate. So we had to change our philosophy.”

Ballantyne thinks a leading reason for the quantity of talent is that the OUA has been drawing players from south of the border in recent years.

“A number of students are starting out in the U.S. and then, for whatever reason ... education, injury, etc., they’re coming back to go to school closer to and playing in the OUA,” Ballantyne said.

Lounsbury has seen this firsthand.

“Almost half of our lineup has played in the States at some point,” Brock’s manager said. “So a lot of times you’re recruiting them out of high school and then they decide to go to the States. But you keep an eye on them, stay in touch a little bit. And then hopefully they come back.”

Lounsbury thinks there are a number of reasons why players return. For starters, he says, there are financial factors. Unless a player is on a full scholarship, it still costs a lot of money to go to school in the States.

“And I think their education – depending on where they go – may suffer,” Lounsbury said. “And then sometimes they just miss home. They realize that parents can’t come to see them play because it’s a long way away.”

Whatever the reason, Lounsbury and other OUA coaches have been happy to take on the talent in recent years.

Yet another reason for the improved level of play in the OUA may be from the increased exposure the league has received over the last few years.

“I think the league has gained a lot of momentum from increased exposure through each school’s website, through showcase camps, our all-star game and the overall competitiveness of the league in general,” said Ballantyne, who worked with current Blue Jays’ Canadian scouting director Kevin Briand to establish an annual OUA all-star game at the Rogers Centre.

The Showcase game, which has been played each of the last three seasons, pits the OUA champion against the other all-stars in the league under the Dome in Toronto each spring.

“OUA sports are about the student-athlete, and I thought this would be a great way to improve the student-athlete experience for some of our baseball players,” Ballantyne said.

The all-star game also garners attention for the league, which is what Laurier’s coach set out to do from the beginning.

“I was brainstorming some ways to increase the exposure for OUA baseball and try and come up with different ideas to attract some first-class student-athletes to our sport,” he said.

The returns are still early. But so far, it seems that Ballantyne and his fellow OUA coaches have done just that.

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