Submitted article

On Friday, Dec. 19 the Galion Graders will hold a press conference to announce the awarding of a franchise from the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate Baseball League to begin play in 2015. The press event will be at the newly renovated Galion Center YMCA, 500 Gill Ave, at 10AM. The Center Y has agreed to allow the Graders to workout in their state-of-the art weight training facilities during the upcoming season.

The Graders will operate as an independent club within Galion Youth Baseball’s non- profit charter. GYB President Justin McMullen said, “Graders Baseball will provide a level of competition which will motivate our youth players to be high achievers. Grader players will also be role models for younger kids.” In cooperation with Galion Schools the Graders will play their home games at Heise Park.

Graders Baseball is the idea of team General Manager Mike O’Leary, who envisioned a summer “wood bat” league team while umpiring in a summer collegiate league in 2006. “I witnessed how this type of team brought family, entertainment, and excitement to small towns like Galion and realized with hard work we could do it here,” O’Leary observed.

The Graders will be managed by Ray Neill of Sandusky . Neill, who has 10 years of experience coaching in the Great Lakes League, is the longtime coach of the Sandusky Perkins’ highly successful baseball program. “We are very pleased to have Ray lead the Graders on the field. He is well respected by college coaches and his knowledge of the game is phenomenal,” O’Leary said. Coach Neill will be introducing several Grader players to the public and press.

The Great Lakes League will be entering its 28th year of operations and, as one of the most respected summer leagues, will have 12 teams in 2015 to play a 44 game schedule during June and July. Galion graduate J.B. Shuck played in the Great Lakes League during his college career. League operations are supported, in part, by Major League Baseball.

For more information about Great Lakes Summer Collegiate Baseball contact: Greatlakesleague.org

For more information about Graders Baseball contact: galiongraders@gmail.com, Mike O’Leary- 419 571 8753, or Eric Dameron- 419 569 3670/damepa@bluffton.edu

Follow the Graders on Facebook and twitter here:

facebook.com/gaiongradersbaseball

@galiongraders