Rainouts leave summer college baseball league teams scrambling

The Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League is going through growing pains this season.

The primary issue has been the weather, according to Max Salevsky of Hollis, the league’s commissioner.

Several games have been postponed so the five teams will be scrambling to get games in as they move toward the end of the regular season on July 23.

A play-in game between the teams that finish fourth and fifth will follow the regular season to determine the fourth seed for the double-elimination tournament that will decide the champion.

The five teams have played between nine and 13 games and it is a 24-game regular season schedule.

Salevsky, who founded the league in 2017 and used to own it, is the league’s commissioner this season and said they are “doing the best they can” to fit in the remaining regular season games.

“Things are moving along but it’s getting kind of crazy,” said Salevsky. “All these young men want to play as many games as they can and that’s my real (focus) right now.”

Nine-inning single games may turn into a doubleheader with two seven-inning games to try to reach 24 games.

But Salevsky also said if it looks like the teams won’t get in all 24 games, he will try to have each of them play the same reduced number of games (i.e., 21, 22 or 23). And he added that if they can’t all play the same number of games, the standings will be based on winning percentage.

The league’s format changed dramatically this summer.

It was formed in 2017 and consisted of five teams of college-eligible players who were put into a player pool and divided up among the clubs. They played their games in the greater Portland area.

This season, teams were added from Bangor (Babes), Old Orchard Beach (Bugs) and Augusta. (Surgin’ Sturgeon). Each club selected its own players and they played in ballparks in their area.

It is still a five-team league with the other teams being Gorham (Lightning) and Sebago (Slammin’ Salmon).

The league is also in its first season as a wooden-bat league.

“The league is working well. Things are going forward,” said Salevsky, who said all five teams have enough players. “There is a learning curve for everyone.

“This is a new format. It’s good. After the season, we will tweak what we need to tweak for next year and go forward. We always want to build upon the previous year,” he said.

The Bangor Babes are leading the league with their 10-0 record and they will host the 3-10 Sebago Slammin’ Salmon on Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader at the Winkin Sports Complex on the Husson University campus in Bangor.

The Babes have beaten the Slammin’ Salmon three times, 6-3, 7-1 and 11-1.

Bangor swept Gorham on Tuesday, 15-0 and 4-1, and Sebago took a pair from Augusta, 9-7, 4-2.