NASHUA – They may be the only game in town. Or New England.

The Futures Collegiate Baseball League is now the only college wooden bat league in New England that has tentative plans to operate this summer.

This weekend the New England Collegiate Baseball League joined the Cape Cod League in cancelling its 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and there’s a question as to what the ripple effects will be for the FCBL and the Nashua Silver Knights.

Right now, not many, Silver Knights general manager Cam Cook said Monday.

“It definitely makes us look at the reasons they did and say, ‘Is this or that a hurdle we can’t clear?’,” Cook said. “But the NECBL has so many more players from outside the region, more teams, and so many more issues and moving parts. The majority of our players are closer, more from the New England region, and the teams are closer.

“What’s good with our owners is they’re pretty much pulling in the same direction … Their priority is how can they get these (FCBL players) in here safely and be able to play.

“Sure, we’re definitely walking on eggshells, but the feeling has been we’re determined to play whether it’s 20 games, 50 games, 80 games, whether it’s July, August, or September.”

The Futures League announced last week it was delaying its season, which was to start May 27, indefinitely. The NECBL – a not-for-profit league – was set to open June 2. It has 13 teams compared to the for-profit FCBL’s seven, but spans all six New England States compared to the FCBL’s three. The NECBL’s Vermont Mountaineers, located in Montpelier, had already announced prior to the league meeting that they weren’t going to play this summer regardless.

The NECBL’s New Hampshire teams are the Keene Swamp Bats and the Winnipesaukee Muskrats. The Upper Valley Nighthawks are Vermont’s other team (Hartford). The Massachusetts teams include the Valley Blue Sox (Holyoke),the North Adams Steeplecats, and former FCBL original franchise the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. The Sharks left the FCBL after the 2018 season.

Connecticut teams include former FCBL team the Bristol Blues, the Danbury Westerners and the Mystic Schooners. Rhode Island is the home of the Ocean State Waves (South Kingstown), and Newport Gulls. Maine has the Sanford Mainers. This summer was to be Bristol’s first in the NECBL as the Blues were the Futures League runnerups last year.

The NECBL’s statement said the decision to cancel “was reached after a careful and thoughtful review of the guidance from federal, state and local officials, the leadership of our host communities, and recommendations from the CDC and medical community.”

Cook said the Silver Knights had a zoom meeting last week with the players on its current roster and also has spoken with all the local host families who say they are all still on board with housing players if the league does play.And Cook thinks it will.

“I’m a glass half-full kind of guy,” he said.

Newsletter