By Amit Shilton
Sports Editor
The George Brown College Huskies have made a call to the bullpen.
Students who don’t have the opportunity to play baseball at Ryerson will now be able to play ball for the Huskies for the next year only. After a dismal 2005 season, the baseball team folded, but is now back for a probationary trial run and anyone can play for them. “I think in the last year there were 10 guys that were committed,” said Ed Mark, George Brown’s director of athletics. “It was embarrassing.”
It wasn’t until former pitching coach George Mianowski talked to Mark that the gears started to turn. He decided to coach the team and has arranged several exhibition games for them to play. At the end of the season Mark said that the team will be judged based on interest, number of games played, performance and the coach’s commitment to decide if the team will become a mainstay yet again.
“This is just a fun team we’re putting together,” said Val Pozzan, the school’s recreation coordinator. He’s now also coordinating the baseball team. “This is like a recruitment year.”
Taking non-students onto their team allows George Brown to be competitive in a year when their performance will be evaluated. It also might recruit high school students to the school by the end of the year.
The University of Toronto baseball team competes in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) league against six other teams. Their coach, Dan Lang, says that fielding a baseball team is easy work with open tryouts.
“You pretty much need a pair of shoes and a glove,” he said.
However, Lang suggested that schools like Ryerson could develop a team someday if OUA teams were allowed to use players from other universities. This would mean talent could develop at Ryerson until the school was ready to launch a team of their own.
For now though, hopefuls will have to don the George Brown blue and enjoy it while it lasts. George Brown will be holding tryout at Christie Pitts Wednesday and Thursday at 4 p.m.
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