Niagara and Power! Two words that go together. But did you know that there is another "Niagara Power" in Niagara Falls? The Niagara Power is an expansion team in the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) and is an Affiliate of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), a national, faith-based ministry. FCA partnered with Cal Kern (Grand Island, NY) and the city of Niagara Falls to establish the Niagara Power in 2007.
The Power provides opportunities for furthering baseball skills and abilities of collegiate players while also emphasizing the importance of character, integrity, and excellence in baseball and in the community.
The New York Collegiate Baseball League, founded in 1978, is a summer wood bat development league for professional baseball. Major League Baseball funds a small portion of the leagues annual budget. The league gives college players who have not yet signed a professional contract the opportunity to develop their skills at a higher level of play, gain experience with wood bats, and be evaluated by scouts. The NYCBL is located in scenic Upstate New York.
Teams play a 44 game regular season schedule with games beginning in June and ending in the last week in July. All games are 9 innings, with most doubleheaders scheduled on the weekends. The All-Star game is played in early July, and the League Championship Series concludes in the first week of August.
Niagara Power players come from all over the country and are housed in host family homes around the area. I am currently housing two fine young men, Danny Hall, from San Jose, CA, and Matt Van Slyke, of Oxford, MS. What a joy it is to have the power of youth again in the home!! (and in case you baseball fans wondered, yes, Matt is related to the famous major leaguer, Andy Van Slyke, formerly of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who coincidentally, was one of my favorite major league players).
The Niagara Power 2010 season began on June 4th at Sal Maglie stadium, where all their home games are played.
The best thing for area baseball fans is the reasonable cost to attend a game. Adult ticket prices run $3 or $4, with a dollar off for senior citizens, and youth (6-12)tickets are only $1 or $2. Concessions are available at very reasonable cost and there are many promotion nights during the season. You can check out the team rosters as well as the schedule and other interesting facts at the team's website:
http://www.niagarapower.org.
If you are a baseball fan be sure to take in a game or 10 during the next two months and if you have a spare room available next year, please consider hosting a couple of these fine young athletes. I have just made two new, wonderful friends and look forward to a winning season.
Jim Brunn
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