What are some of the top college summer leagues around Illinois? Mostly the northern part of Illinois?

Here you go fastball....

http://nacsb.org/

You can try this site for teams in Illinois...
baseballinillinois@blogspot.com

Does anyone have any experience with or opinion of Cal Ripken Sr's Collegiate Baseball League?

JK

Check out the Suburban Power League - SPBL

Its run by one of the best travel coaches in our time

A legend in his own mind....

Good to hear from you.. How is Mike doing down south?

Doing well ..working hard

looking forward to the season

hope all is well with Sean in the sunshine state

Just finished last night, game three in the Green and Gold series.. Two shutout innings in a 10-2 loss. Everyone's on pitch counts. Getting on a plane Tues. to come home for Turkey. He may see the snow flurries and get back on the plane.. Mike still hitting those moonshots? I hear that the school is recruiting aggressively.. Will he be at 1B or OF? Any idea?

Sean got an invite to play Cal Ripken over the summer but don't know much about it... Was hoping someone had some knowledge of it, good or bad.

If you want to play every day of the summer, very competetive league, a real minor league experience, try to hook up with the Madison Mallards in the Northwoods League. Not far from home either. Great town. Biggest draw in summer collegiate baseball. Average about 6000 fans per game. Only complaint. They need to stop playing the music between every pitch! Very annoying and bush league. Other than that, first class all the way.

Kevin

Kevin,
The Mallards, like most Northwoods League teams, already have their roster completed for the 2010 season.

The Mallards are certainly the biggest drawing team in the NWL, and may be the biggest in all of summer collegiate baseball.

Also within striking distance of Chicago for NWL, are the Green Bay Bullfrogs, Eau Claire Express, LaCrosse Loggers, and Wisconsin Woodchucks (Wausau).

There is a new team in the Prospect League coming this summer, the DeKalb Liners, who will play out of Sycamore, IL.

Steve Schmitt from the Shoe Box owns the Mallards and has done a great job! If your a Cardinals fan, you have to visit the Shoe Box!

.

Black Earth, WI

.

Does anybody have any information on the Chicago Suburban Baseball League? My son is at a midwest D2. He is looking for some summer options.

Try The Melrose Indians. Bill Dwoinen Sr. or Jr.

Jr. posts on this site once in awhile. I've found him to be very helpful. If he doesn't have a slot available, he'll probably be able to point you in a good direction.

Good Luck!

We will do that, thanks. That is nice and close to home too.

My son played in the Chicago Suburban League this past summer. I think the level of play is better than what most people might think. A good mix of college players on all levels and older guys including a few ex-pro players. Lombard, Crystal Lake, Vee Pak, Crestwood, Oak Forest and Melrose all good programs. My son played for Vee Pak and couldn't have been treated better. We played in Standard Bank Field, free food, beverages for the fans and players. If your a player that wants to stay at home or need to take some summer school classes this is a good league. Only negative is that it's not heavily scouted.

catcher25mom,

My son played for a team in the CSBL (Crystal Lake Cardinals) and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The Cardinals belonged to a couple of different leagues (the CSBL and the Metro Collegiate Summer Baseball League of Illinois) and then travelled at the end of the summer to the NABF (National Amateur Baseball Federation) College Division World Series in Toledo, Ohio.

Here is a link to the CSBL Website in case you don't already have it. If you click the "Teams" tab, and then click on each of the individual team names, you can find various levels of information on each team. Most also include a link to their team website. Hope this proves of some use to you. Good luck to your son and his search for a summer league team!

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by JKennedy:
Does anyone have any experience with or opinion of Cal Ripken Sr's Collegiate Baseball League?

I have both.

The League is getting better in talent every year since in existence. Small Attendance Numbers.
Several of the ball fields are in much better shape than fields at the Cape!

What other information do you seek?

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
The Mallards, already have their roster completed for the 2010 season.

Absolutely not true. CJ keeps a couple of roster spots open until opening day. And of course, roster changes take place due to injuries, no shows, change of summer plans, draft, etc