Northwest Indiana’s “Boys of Summer” will now have another outlet in which to hone their craft with a new semipro/summer collegiate baseball team.
The Northern League, in conjunction with the City of Crown Point and the team, announced the Lake County Corn Dogs Thursday afternoon. The new team is based in Crown Point and will play at Legacy Fields at Center Ross Park, its owner, former North Township board member Ralph Flores, said after a news conference at Great Lakes Sports Hub.
Flores said he’d worked with Northern League President Don Popravak for almost a year to establish another team and now has at least 16 players who’ve signed letters of intent to play. He hopes to have a 32-man roster by time the season kicks off, he said.
With former Kansas City Royals pitcher Justin Huisman as head coach and manager, and Kyle Hallberg as assistant coach, Flores said they have the makings of a team that will succeed on many levels.
“In order to do it right, you have to have a great team in the front office,” Flores said. “(Huisman) coached at Trinity College for 14 years before retiring, and he and Kyle just check all the boxes.
“It was a very easy choice, and (the team is) going to be a lot of fun.”
Crown Point Mayor Dave Uran lauded the team landing in Crown Point because of its affinity for sports, especially baseball.
“Crown Point takes its youth sports very seriously, from our Cal Ripken and other programs, and now we have another program that will give these kids and opportunity to get to the majors,” he said. “And since we’re the Bulldogs and in the middle of a corn field, (the name) ‘Corn Dogs’ makes a lot of sense. I hope they’ll lead us to a championship.”
The name was chosen during a naming competition held late last year, according to a release.
Huisman, 42, said with the abundance of local talent on his team, baseball fans will be in for a treat. The locale doesn’t hurt, either.
“Crown Point is just a great town for families to bring the kids and enjoy a night out at the game,” he said.
Great Lakes Sports Hub owner Bobby Morris, a former Chicago Cub and Cincinnati Red player from Munster, said he’s already enjoying the synergy his facility and the team has. He’s impressed by the leadership, and he, too, likes the idea of having players gain the experience while living close to home.
Perhaps no one likes that idea, however, more than Mike Small, Morris’s general manager. Small’s son, Colin Small, plays for Mt. Carmel in Chicago and is heading to Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, in the fall.
“5-Star and these other elite teams end up having to travel to Indianapolis to play, so I can’t tell you how relieved he is to not have to drive there,” Small said. “The longest he’ll have to drive is an hour (when they play the Whiting Oilmen and the other Illinois teams on their schedule.”
The Lake County Corn Dogs hasn’t posted its schedule yet and is still looking for players between the ages of 18 and 26. For more information, visit the team’s website at corndogsbaseball.com or email to info@corndogsbaseball.com.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
