Hipp is a Texas native who was a three-time All-State Baseball honoree in high school.  He then attended McLennan Community College where he played for two years and was a two-time North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference All-Conference selection.  He was also named Best Male Athlete following his sophomore year at McLennan. 

Hipp transferred to Liberty University in Virginia for his junior year and finished up his college career at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio where he lead the team in batting average.

Last summer, Hipp played for the Victoria Generals during their inaugural campaign.   He was a starting outfielder on Coach Clemons squad.

More information can be found on the Victoria Generals website.

Rhea is currently an assistant coach at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.  He played college baseball at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and at Angelina College before being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He pitched in the Pirates organization for four years before a shoulder injury ended his career.

In addition to his coaching duties at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Rhea also owns a baseball academy, Texas Heat Athletics, in Shiner, TX.

More information can be found on the Texas Tomcats website.

Gallego spent last summer on the coaching staff of the Big Bend Cowboys of the Continental League.  In addition to providing personal pitching instruction in Bryan, TX, Gallego is also an associate scout for the Houston Astros.

Velasquez is also a former coach with the Big Bend Cowboys.  In addition, he spent time on the coaching staff of the Yuma Scorpions.  Following a college baseball career at both Vernon Regional Junior College and Sul Ross State University, he went on to play professionally in the old Texas-Louisiana League where he was named Rookie of the Year in 1998.  Velasquez began his summer college league coaching career with the Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League in 2005-06.

More information is available on the Brazos Valley Bombers website.

Byrnes is currently in his tenth season as the head coach at Louisiana College.  During his tenure, the Wildcats have qualified for the post season seven times.  Byrnes is the most successful baseball coach in Louisiana College history.

Before joining Louisiana College, Byrnes coached at Tioga High School in Louisiana.  Two of his teams won back-to-back state baseball championships in 1986-87.

Byrnes will be joined by pitching coach Chris Bertrand.  Bertrand is currently the pitching coach at Louisiana State University-Shreveport.  Freddy Rodriguez will serve as hitting coach.  Rodriguez is currently an assistant baseball coach at Texas College.  Alex Goodling rounds out the coaching staff.  He is currently an assistant coach at Louisiana College.  He will split his time between working as an assistant coach and working in the Aces front office.

Additional information can be found on the Alexandria Aces website.

Texas has a rich tradition of having some of the best baseball players in the country.   But in 2003, Texas did not have anywhere for their college baseball stars to play in the summer.  As a result, players who wanted to play summer college league baseball had to travel to another part of the country to play in leagues like the Cape Cod, Alaska, and Northwoods.  That’s when former Dallas Baptist University Athletic Director Wayne Poage set out to change things.

Poage understood better than most what a great opportunity Texas had to keep its college baseball players home in the summer.  He knew that there was an abundance of talent as well as areas all around the Dallas Metroplex that would support local baseball teams.

To build his new league, Poage set out to find people interested in starting teams.  He worked his network of contacts and talked to anyone who would listen.  As a result, in the summer of 2004, Poage found himself at the head of an eight team summer college baseball league.

In that inaugural season, the Texas Collegiate League teams included the Granbury Generals, Highland Park BlueSox, Graham Roughnecks, Coppell Copperheads, McKinney Marshalls, Rutherford Wranglers, Mineral Wells Steam, and the Colleyville-Grapevine Lonestars.  In season number two, the team in Granbury was replaced by the Denton Outlaws and the Graham Roughnecks moved to Wichita Falls.

On the field, the Texas Collegiate League was a success.  Baseball fans in the Dallas area were treated to some top-notch baseball throughout the summer.  Unfortunately, the league was hurting financially.  To stop the flow of red ink, Poage turned to Dallas businessman Gerald Haddock.  Haddock, who had made his fortune in oil and gas drilling, as well as real estate, was a baseball fan, and he saw the potential of the league.  Along with his investment came a determination to run the league like a business.

In 2006, the Brazos Valley Bombers joined the league, which was now up to nine teams.  Brazos Valley was the first team from outside the immediate Dallas area to become members of the TCL. 

The on-field product continued to impress, but there was a growing divide between Haddock and the team owners.  Haddock wanted to run the Texas Collegiate League as a business and a profit center, but several team owners felt that Haddock’s profit was coming at their expense.

Following the 2007 season, the team owners met with Haddock and gave him an ultimatum; either let them run the league themselves or they were going to leave and go off on their own.  Haddock didn’t like either option and told the group that he would sue each of them if they left the league.  When several of the teams announced they were splitting from the league, Haddock was true to his word and filed suit.

Of the nine teams in the league at the time, three teams were more interested in competing on the baseball field than they were in fighting it out in court.  When Haddock indicated a desire to divest himself of the league, the owners of the Brazos Valley Bombers, Coppell Copperheads, and McKinney Marshalls made him an offer.  Haddock accepted, and the TCL had new owners.  Haddock remains involved, although his involvement is now of a more ceremonial nature.  The league’s championship trophy is named in his honor and his foundation continues to support the league.

The first thing the new owners set out to do was to change the league from a for-profit corporation into a cooperative owned by and run for the benefit of the team owners.  Brazos Valley Bombers owner Uri Geva was elected president and the new league set out to find more teams.

From the beginning, the new owners had a vision.  They wanted to run the financial side of their teams like minor league baseball clubs, with all of the marketing and promotions that comes with that business model, but they didn’t want to sacrifice the experience or development that the players would receive. 

For the 2008 season, the East Texas PumpJacks joined the league.  The PumpJacks, located in Kilgore, TX, further expanded the geographical reach of the league.

In 2009 the TCL added the Victoria Generals.  It was an exciting year.  The Coppell Copperheads won their third championship in six years and the league was poised for even further growth.

For 2010, the league has added two more teams and has expanded its schedule.  The Texas Tomcats are owned by the same group that owns the Victoria Generals and they will play their home games in Weimar, TX.  The Alexandria Aces, a former Continental League franchise, will play in Alexandria, LA; the first team to join the league from outside of Texas.

The vision of teams being profitable and players having a great experience remains the same for the Texas Collegiate League today.  According to TCL President Uri Geva, the league is also looking to continue their expansion.  Geva says that he can see a time in the near future when the league will have 12 teams across Texas and Louisiana.  Geva can also envision TCL games being broadcast on TV soon.

In a rather short time, the Texas Collegiate League has become one of the best run, most highly respected summer collegiate baseball leagues in the country.  Despite their humble beginnings and internal disputes, the league has emerged strong and is poised for growth.  There’s no doubt that the future is looking bright for the Texas Collegiate League.

McClellan played for two years at Seward County Community College (KS) where he set school records for career wins and strikeouts, as well as the single season record for saves.  He then transferred to Arizona State University where he was named to the All Pac-10 team (honorable mention) in his junior year and compiled a 7-0 record in his senior year in 2003.  The ASU team he played on in 2003 featured  such MLB stars as Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, and Andre Ethier.

Following his college career, McClellan was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.  He struck out 112 batter in 110 innings through two minor league seasons with Kansas City, but hurt his arm in 2005, cutting short his pro career.  He made a comeback in 2006 with the Traverse City Beach Bums of the Frontier League, going 12-10 with a 3.65 ERA over two seasons.  He eventually opted to join the Beach Bums coaching staff.  He is currently the pitching coach at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona. 

McClellan is no stranger to summer college league baseball.  While in college, he played for the Liberal BeeJays of the Jayhawk League.  He also served as the pitching coach for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 2008.

More information can be found on the East Texas PumpJacks Website.

The Aces have a long and rich history.  The franchise actually started in 1907 in the old Class D Gulf Coast League.  In 1914, the Cincinnati Reds started conducting Spring Training in Alexandria and in 1925 the franchise became the Alexandria Reds in the Class D Cotton States League.  The franchise continued through several iterations up until 1972 when  the team changed their name to the Aces and became a Class AA team for the San Diego Padres.  That affiliation lasted just four years and then the Alexandria franchise went into hibernation.

In 1994, the franchise was reborn as part of the independent professional Texas-Louisiana League.  In 2006, the Aces became members of the independent United League, and in 2009, the Aces were members of the independent Continental Baseball League. 

The Aces will play their home games at historic Bringhurst Field.  The Texas Collegiate League is in the process of re-doing their 2010 schedule which will be released soon.  The 2010 season will include a split-season, where the league will crown a fist-half and second-half champion.

More information can be found on the Texas Collegiate League website.

The new TCL franchise will be owned by The Victoria Baseball Club, LLC, the same group that owns the Victoria Generals.  Blake Koch, GM of the Generals will also serve as GM of the Tomcats.  The Tomcats will play their games at historic Strickland Field at Veterans Memorial Park in Weimar, which is located on I-10 between San Antonio and Houston.

The Tomcat name originated from the F-14 Tomcat fighter planes that flew extensively for the Navy between 1974-2006.  The franchise wanted to honor the local military veterans in part because the local veterans hall owns the rights to Weimar’s Veterans Memorial Park.  The Tomcats name is also a nod to Tom Strickland, a baseball mainstay in Weimar who has dedicated much of his life to maintaining the field at Veterans Memorial Park that was named in his honor.

More information can be found on the Texas Collegiate League website.

UPDATE:  There is a rumor being floated that  the Texas Collegiate League may be introducing another new franchise soon.  According to the Victoria Advocate, the team may be located in Louisiana.

Each team will play 28 home and 28 road games.  The league has decided that every Sunday during the season will be an off day for the teams. 

The league will also be moving to a split season schedule.  The first 28 games of the year will make up the first half of the season, while the final 28 games will make up the second half.  The post season will consist of the champions from the first and second half of the season, as well as two wild card teams.  Both rounds in the post season will consist of best two-out-of-three series.

The Texas Collegiate League All-Star Game will be held following the first half of the season.  The 2010 All-Star Game will be a first in the seven year history of the Texas Collegiate League.  The Victoria Generals will play host to the league’s first All-Star Game, which is scheduled to be held on July 5, 2010 at Riverside Park Stadium in Victoria, TX.

More information is available on the Texas Collegiate League website.

What is known is that the new franchise will be owned by the Victoria Baseball club, the same group that currently owns the Victoria Generals.

In a press release, franchise president Tracy Young said;

 “We are very excited and pleased that the other franchise owners in the TCL have agreed to our proposal for owning another franchise,” said Tracy Young, franchise owner and team president.  Young made the announcement on Monday evening.  “We have a couple of sites identified as potential homes for the new team and will be making the final selection in the coming weeks.”

Stay tuned for further details.  In the meantime, you can find more information on the Texas Collegiate League’s website.