After a year of playing an independent club baseball schedule, Central Oregon Community College will rejoin the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) in 2007.

”It’s a wonderful change,” head coach Tom Eilertson said of his team rejoining the NCBA after a year of having to fill an entire season’s schedule without benefit of a league format. ”It’s a great opportunity for high school players to play at a serious level and get noticed by Division I, II or III colleges.”

COCC originally joined the NCBA for the 2004 season but withdrew from the association in 2005 because of a shortage of players. The club was revived as an independent team for 2006.

The COCC Bobcats, who plan to field between 16 and 22 players for their 2007 roster, hope to attract a variety of players from different geographic backgrounds.

”We will have mostly Central Oregon kids,” COCC athletic director Bill Douglass said of the potential roster. He noted, however, that players from other areas of Oregon have already shown interest. First-year players from Scappoose, Astoria and Coos Bay will likely be on the roster, and Eilertson said Southern Oregon is a target of interest.

One attraction for potential club players, Eilertson noted, is that a player can play two years of club ball while retaining his full four years of eligibility at an NCAA level.

”An athlete has six years to complete his athletic eligibility, and he can come here, play for two years and get noticed while still retaining four years of (athletic) eligibility,” Eilertson said.

Douglass noted that to participate at COCC, a player must be 18 to 24 years of age and a full-time student (minimum of nine credit hours) in good academic standing.

One edge COCC has over its only Oregon NCBA competitor, the University of Oregon, is that it is far cheaper to be a Bobcat than it is to be a Duck. In addition to a much higher tuition rate, University of Oregon club players are assessed a fee of $700, according to Douglass. The fee for COCC players, said Douglass, will be approximately $200.

The athletic director explained that baseball team travel expenses will be covered in part by player fees, while other team expenses, including the $1,000 league affiliation fee, will be covered by the college club sports budget. Douglass also said that COCC plans to award partial scholarships – ”talent grants” – to three players for the 2007 season.

According to Eilertson, the NCBA has given club baseball an element of legitimacy, as several former association players have gone on to be drafted by big-league organizations. And a number of former COCC players, such as Geoff Wagner (Oregon State), have gone on to succeed at the NCAA Division I level.

”One thing we want parents and kids to know is that this is taken seriously,” Eilertson said of the change in attitude that accompanies affiliation with the NCBA.

COCC will play in the Pacific Mountain Conference with teams from Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, the University of Oregon, Seattle University and Evergreen State College (Wash.).

The Bobcats will also play a nonconference schedule that Eilertson said will likely include opponents such as George Fox University and possibly Linfield. The winner of league play will face a regional final against the winner of the Western Mountain Conference, with that winner advancing to the NCBA World Series, to be held in Florida in 2007.

The NCBA is made up of club teams representing more than 130 colleges and universities – big and small – across the country. Oregon reached the 2006 NCBA World Series, along with Colorado State, Dayton, North Carolina, Penn State, Texas, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin. Colorado State emerged as the national champion.

For players interested, tryouts for the COCC club baseball team will take place in January, 2007.

For more information, contact Tom Eilertson at 350-8097, or Bill Douglass at 383-7794.

Kyle Mallory can be reached at sports@bendbulletin.com.