Teams from a new collegiate summer baseball league will be taking the field for the first time in June, and they will be using bats from a Bend manufacturer.

MacDougall & Sons Bat Company Inc. secured a deal to become the official bat-maker of the Great West League, a wood-bat baseball league with six teams in California and Oregon, including the Medford Rogues and the Portland Pickles.

For Founder John MacDougall, it’s an opportunity to get his bats, which he says perform better than traditional wood baseball bats, into the hands of around 160 college players. Ideally, he said, he hoped the deal would lead to additional exposure for the company, which has struggled to generate attention for the bats.

“We’re up against the Louisville Sluggers, Spaldings, big, national companies,” MacDougall said.

The Great West League, which was formally founded in 2014 but has not yet played a game, will be roughly equivalent to the West Coast League, home of the Bend Elks, according to Ken Wilson, co-founder of the Great West. The league’s six teams each expect to play 60 games over the course of 10 weeks, beginning June 3.

Where NCAA teams use aluminum bats, amateur leagues like the Great West League and West Coast League use wooden bats, which provide an opportunity for bat-makers like MacDougall & Sons.

Unlike standard wood bats, which typically use maple or ash throughout the bat, MacDougall’s patented design utilizes two different types of wood, with hickory in the handle of the bat and tanoak hardwood in the barrel. MacDougall said this combination creates a relatively lightweight bat that doesn’t shatter or splinter like other wooden bats do. The bats also come with a five-month breakage warranty, according to the company’s website.

“It’s a noticeable difference,” MacDougall said.

Wilson said most of the college athletes bring bats with them, but MacDougall & Sons will be offering backup bats in a variety of sizes to players for $169, $30 less than the standard retail price. Wilson said the company will be providing around half a dozen bats per team for players to try. If they like the bats, they can keep them, leading to extra exposure for MacDougall and his company.

It’s a new avenue for MacDougall, who has attempted to raise money for the company since he began developing his bats in 2008. MacDougall & Sons became one of the first companies to utilize Oregon’s new rules for crowdfunding, which allow Oregonians to invest in Oregon-based companies with fewer restrictions.

However, MacDougall said he has been disappointed with the results of his campaign, which began last May and will run for 12 months. So far, he said he’s raised around $25,000, a far cry from the figures raised by other companies.

“It’s been kind of frustrating,” MacDougall said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7818, shamway@bendbulletin.com