Collegiate Baseball League Europe

Collegiate Baseball League Europe
Sport Baseball
Founded 2012
No. of teams 6
Country  Europe
Most recent
champion(s)
La Rochelle Admirals (2016)
Official website CBLE

Collegiate Baseball League Europe (CBLE) is a wood bat summer collegiate league based in Oosterhout, the Netherlands.

The league currently consists of two divisions, the East Division (Vienna Emperors, Prague Dragons and Amsterdam Bombers) and the West Division (London Cavaliers, Sant Boi Falcons of Barcelona and La Rochelle Admirals). Players can apply individually and have the opportunity to choose their preferred division. Each year the coaching staffs draft their team rosters from the list of registered players in the month of April. Players typically play their regular season at college teams in North America or with club teams in elite leagues across Europe.

History

The league was founded in 2012 and is based Oosterhout in the Netherlands.

The inaugural tournament was held in July 2012 with 56 players from 10 different countries. All games were played at "Sportpark de Slotbosse Toren" in Oosterhout the Netherlands, home of the Oosterhout Twins.

In 2014 the league expanded to baseball venues in London (GBR),[1] Barcelona (ESP)[2] and La Rochelle (FRA).[3] As the only collegiate summer league in "the Old World", CBLE aims to offer players age 18-23 a great summer experience with high level baseball and a nice piece of Europe at the same time.

On April 17, 2014, CBLE announced an agreement with the Northwoods League[4] to offer their top players the opportunity to play with the Elite College players in the US. The agreement between the two summer collegiate leagues is first of its kind.

In September 2014, 10 CBLE alumni represented 5 different countries at the European Baseball Championship in Germany and Czech Republic. The game France vs. Belgium on September 16 featured former CBLE players Owen Ozanich (Falcons 2012) and Ben van Nuffel (Falcons 2013) as the starting pitchers for their country, while Axel Poesmans (Cavaliers 2014) was the starting catcher for Belgium.

In December 2014, CBLE announced it added venues in Vienna,[5] Prague[6] and Amsterdam[7] to launch its East Division expansion in 2015, while London, Sant Boi Barcelona and La Rochelle will form the West Division. CBLE's hometown Oosterhout (NLD) will be the host of the EAST vs. WEST All Star game, the CBLE Championship Series playoffs and the Championship Game.

This is a list of the winningest CBLE franchise teams as measured in both total wins and winning percentage. The Sant Boi Barcelona Falcons lead all other teams with 33 wins. The remaining all-time win leaders in CBLE are the La Rochelle Admirals (29 wins), Praha Dragons (14), Amsterdam Bombers (13), Vienna Emperors (13), and London Cavaliers (11), respectively. In winning percentage, the all-time leaders in the CBLE are the Sant Boi Barcelona Falcons (.635), La Rochelle Admirals (.596), Vienna Emperors (.481), Praha Dragons (.467), Amsterdam Bombers (.406), and London Cavaliers (.344), respectively.

Teams

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL LEAGUE EUROPE
Current Teams Entered Head Coach Manager
La Rochelle Admirals 2012–present Jay Hemond (USA) Serge Meijer (NLD)
London Cavaliers 2012–present Mitchell Berghmans (NLD) Frank Cramer (NLD)
Sant Boi Falcons of Barcelona 2012–present Chris Cummings (USA) Mike Graham (USA)
Amsterdam Bombers 2012–present David Yamana (USA) Felix Brown (FRA)
Prague Dragons 2015 expansion Mark Wisthoff (USA) René Fischer (NLD)
Vienna Emperors 2015 expansion Bas Nooijens (NLD)
Venue Location
Oosterhout Twins Oosterhout, Netherlands
La Rochelle Boucaniers La Rochelle, France
London Mets and Essex Arrows London, Great Britain
Club de Béisbol y Sófbol Sant Boi Barcelona, Spain
Amsterdam Pirates Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tempo Titans Praha Prague, Czech Republic
Vienna Wanderers Vienna, Austria

League Champions and Finalists

  • 2016: LA ROCHELLE ADMIRALS | SANT BOI FALCONS OF BARCELONA
  • 2015: SANT BOI FALCONS OF BARCELONA | PRAHA DRAGONS
  • 2014: LA ROCHELLE ADMIRALS | SANT BOI FALCONS OF BARCELONA
  • 2013: LA ROCHELLE ADMIRALS | SANT BOI FALCONS OF BARCELONA
  • 2012: SANT BOI FALCONS OF BARCELONA | LONDON CAVALIERS

Notable CBLE Alumni

Contact

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.