Marquette, MI – June 24, 2020 – While the MLB announced yesterday officially that they will have a 2020 season and baseball fans are happy baseball will be back, the Marquette Blues are already entering the prime of their season.
Shortly after the shutdown of states across the country, Legion Baseball announced they were cancelling the 2020 season and tournaments. But teams in the U.P. would not be deterred. Head of Marquette Legion Baseball Derek Swajanen said he and other coaches around the U.P. got on the phone to decide how they could salvage baseball this summer, and what they came up with was their own U-19 league. They went out and secured their own insurance, designated a schedule to play about 40 games, implemented a program of protocols looked at by a doctor, and got the kids together to play some ball.
The Marquette Legion program had a huge number of kids turn out, with 17 players on the Marquette Blu8es and 20 players on the Marquette Reds. The Blue’s have gotten off to a great start, winning every game they’ve played. According to Swajanen this might be the most talented team he’s had since the 2015 team, which won the state tournament.
The Blues just got the go-ahead from the city of Marquette to start playing home games, with the first coming tonight against Bark River at 6 pm. Check out the full Blues and Reds schedule on the Marquette Legion Baseball Facebook page.
You can listen to the full interview with Derek Swajanen below:
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW WITH DEREK SWAJANEN
