Blue Wahoos Stadium To Host Junior College Baseball Showcase Event 

The baseball coaches in the Panhandle Conference opted two years ago to avoid hefty travel costs to Lakeland and host their own junior college, fall showcase event, in closer proximity.

It has found a home at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

For the second year, the Panhandle Conference Baseball Sophomore Showcase will be held on Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. at the bayfront ballpark which is staying busy in the Blue Wahoos offseason.

It will be an open-to-public event ($10.00 admission) featuring the top sophomores from five schools going through various drills, batting practice and a 10-inning game (5 batters per inning), thus allowing players to get scouted by NCAA Division I and D-2 teams, along with professional baseball scouts attending.

The event will be followed by the West Florida Baseball Academy have its own event for high school age players.

“When we did it (at Blue Wahoos Stadium) last year for the first time, it was awesome,” said Pensacola State coach Bryan Lewallyn. “We tried to spread the word as best we could with (pro) scouts and coaches and all of them said, ‘This was best workout we’ve been to… it was great the way it was run, please do this again next year.’

“So we think it’s a great event. It is a really good opportunity for all the sophomore players in our conference. It is kind of a one-stop shop where a (NCAA program) may be looking at one team’s pitcher, for example, and then one of our guys, say, has a really good day and catches attention.”

All four junior college conferences in Florida once annually met around this time in Lakeland at the Detroit Tigers’ spring training complex and stadium. The format was the same, but spread over two days.

Lewallyn said that several years ago, as travel costs continued to rise, the Panhandle Conference coaches suggested the event rotate around the state. The other three conferences were not in favor of that option. Their state peers have continued the event, but the Panhandle Conference broke away.

The schools in the conference are comprised of Tallahassee Community College, Chipola College (Marianna) Gulf Coast State College (Panama City), Northwest Florida State College (Niceville) and Pensacola State.

This year, as fate has it, that decision turned out for the best, after Hurricane Helene left its wrath statewide, but the Northwest Florida region was spared.

“Obviously, we have a very good brand of baseball up here,” said Lewallyn, who guided his team to a 32-17 record last season and the third trip to the Florida JUCO state tournament in four seasons.

“But ultimately we decided as a conference that we’re not going to come anymore (to Lakeland),” he said. “They still have that event for the other three conferences in the central and southern part of the state. But for many of them, it’s an easy over-and-back day trip.

“For us, we were leaving on a Friday, spending two nights at a hotel and getting home (Sunday) at two o’clock in the morning.”

In 2022, the first local area event was at Northwest Florida State College. Lewallyn is hoping the event can remain at Blue Wahoos Stadium, possibly with involvement from the Perfect Game or Prep Baseball organizations, or getting a title sponsorship.

He praised Blue Wahoos president Jonathan Griffth and events manager Shannon Hannah for helping with the logistics and challenges of hosting it at the ballpark.

“They’ve been so great to work with,” he said. “The teams love doing it (at Blue Wahoos Stadium).”

Junior college teams are allowed to begin fall practice session as soon as mid-August and extend to mid-November. Lewallyn said PSC opts for a more compact mid-September through October set-up. Teams in junior college can play as many as 14 exhibition games and can play NCAA Division I teams during the period.

“With the NCAA recruiting calendar, the reason we selected this date is that it’s in the open recruiting part of calendar, where coaches can come watch us work out,” Lewallyn said. “It is a really good opportunity for the players to get noticed.”

Each of the five schools can bring as many sophomore players as desired to participate in either the workout drills, or the game. Lewallyn said returning pitchers Matteo Pare and Jase Phillips will pitch in the game. Catcher Will Barter, a Pensacola Catholic grad and transfer from Tulane, will also play in the game.

The Pirates’ other returning sophomores will be divided between workout and game, which is slated to start between 3 p.m. and 3:30.

“You try to give each player the best opportunity,” Lewallyn said.