17 Hoosiers slated to play in Grand Park Summer league

At this point in the year, the super regional round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament should’ve been preparing to begin. While the 16 remaining teams battled it out for spots in the College World Series, many other players would be beginning their summer league stints at Cape Cod, in the Northwoods League, or in one of the various spots around the country where collegiates gather to work on their game in the offseason.

We didn’t get much of a college baseball season this year, and there was no NCAA Tournament for obvious reasons, but it looks like there will be some summer baseball after all. It won’t be at the Cape, and many of the usual summer leagues called their seasons off. It’ll be a little closer to home for a good number of Hoosiers.

This week, the College Summer League at Grand Park announced the rosters of its 12 teams that’ll compete in Westfield. Practices are already underway, with games expected to run through late July.

Of the nearly 250 players listed, 17 of them will represent IU. That group is a mix of veterans and younger players as well as a few incoming freshmen.

A significant group of Hoosiers will play for Team A (extremely creative, I know), including stars Cole Barr and Grant Richardson. Alongside them will be Cooper Trinkle, who had begun to establish himself as IU’s starting second baseman before the plug got pulled on the season, and freshman Zach Behrmann, who had reclassified to join the Hoosiers a year early as one of the top pitching prospects in the state.

Team B has five Hoosiers listed on its roster. Jack of all trades Drew Ashley is joined by Sunday starter Braydon Tucker and incoming freshman Tyler Nelson, an outfielder from Andrean, as well as Connor and Garrett Manous.

There are also five Hoosiers on Team C. Friday starter Tommy Sommer is the veteran of the group. He’s joined by freshmen Ethan Vecrumba, Reese Sharp and Brian Gaffney. Craig Yoho, previously of Center Grove and more recently the Houston Cougars, will get a chance to play with some of his new IU teammates.

Team E will feature just two Hoosiers. Casper Clark, a right-handed pitcher from Columbus North, and Kip Fougerousse, an infielder from Linton, both of whom are incoming freshmen.

The final Hoosier in the league — Dylan Steele, a freshman righty — will play on team G.

Outside of the Hoosiers in the league, there will be a few other interesting names to watch.

Former IU outfielder Sam Crail will be on Team E. He started 21 games and hit .320 for Saint Leo University earlier this year. Justin Walker, who sat out this past spring after transferring from IU to Purdue, is slated to play for Team C. Bryce Eblin will be on Team D. He was the top 2020 recruit in the state and is headed to Alabama in the Fall. There’s also one Rutger Poiry on the roster for Team A. According to the Internet, he plays for Lincoln Trail College, but it’s now canon that he’s a huge fan of this blog. Thanks for reading, Rutger.

The game schedule for the league has yet to be released, though practices started on May 26 and the league is supposed to have a two-week spring training period. With that in mind, logic would place opening day on June 9. When the date is official, this post will be updated.

EDIT: The original version of this post included Maconaquah senior Mason Williams as an incoming freshman walk-on at IU, as he is listed on the roster for the College Summer League at Grand Park. Since then, however, it’s been communicated to CQ that while Williams will attend IU in the Fall, it’ll only be as a student as he is not currently a preferred walk-on.