April 14, 2022

The Elmira Pioneers have always branded an exciting style of baseball that engages their large crowds of fans and are planning to continue that trend this season.

The Pioneers will bring in a lot of strong hitters who have had a lot of success at their colleges this spring. There will be plenty of new bats in the lineup this summer, but one key returner is that of first baseman Bobby Marsh (Florida Atlantic), who hit .304 with 25 runs batted in and had 13 doubles in 27 games played for Elmira.

There will also be some returners on the mound including Ethan Buckley (SUNY Cortland), who made eight relief appearances for Elmira last season. North Essex Community College teammates Tom Cattaneo and Alex Sweeney will return as key role players as well. Cattaneo returns after pitching to a 2.21 ERA in 20 1/3 innings last season while Sweeney comes back after making seven relief appearances and one start last summer.

“They’ll already know the ins and out with Elmira and how to deal with the crowd,” head coach Andy Drum, who is in his first year at the helm in Elmira, said. “It’s just good having that experience.”

The team is also bringing in a pair of exciting young players, with Owen Stewart (George Mason) and Landen Burch (Old Dominion). Both are highly-ranked graduating high school seniors that are local to the Elmira area.

“I’m excited about the local guys. I’ve watched a lot of these guys grow up and I worked with a lot of them doing hitting and pitching lessons, so I’m very excited,” Drum said.

Having experienced players alongside younger talent is something that the Elmira program stresses to help develop a winning product on the field.

“We have a lot of upperclassmen this year too, so having that experience on the field I think will be very beneficial this summer,” Drum said. “A lot of it is just trying to build connections with coaches and schools and making sure that we treat those boys good year in and year out so that way they keep sending us quality ballplayers every single year.”

Having talented players is something that keeps fans coming to the ballpark each summer. The Pioneers led the PGCBL in average attendance last summer, averaging 2,372 fans per game in 2021.

“Our stadium atmosphere is just awesome,” Drum said. “They get really, really loud. The boys just love playing in front of those crowds. Some of these kids, they’re playing in front of 40 people a day at school, so getting to play in front of [that many fans], they feel like professional ballplayers.”