Dairy Queen Slam

The Northwest Slam Baseball Club will be entering its sixth year of existence in 2005. After the 2003 season the Slam saw six graduating players attend college on baseball scholarships and two other players chosen in the 2003 June Amateur baseball draft. Matt Linder was taken in the eighth round by the Philadelphia Phillies and signed a professional contract and is now in their minor league system. Adam Roos and Cal Stanke were the other players drafted, Adam was chosen by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 28^th round but opted for a full scholarship to Texarkana College, while Cal was taken in the 49^th round by the Philadelphia Phillies and chose to attend Evansville University on a full scholarship. In total seven players from the 2003 Renegade’s (18U team), as well as three from the 2004 squad have gone on to attend colleges on baseball scholarships.

Slam will be fielding three teams this year, the Renegades (18U), Mavericks (16U) and the Outlaws (14U). The Slam have also added girls fast-pitch softball to our organization fielding one team in the 18U division (Mustangs). All four teams will be competing here locally as well as travelling to several out of town tournaments throughout Canada and the United States. In addition we have been invited to compete in a Spring Training tournament in Cocoa Beach, Florida during March Break along with teams from all over the United States and Canada.

The Slam travel schedule will take them to tournaments in Minneapolis MN, Milwaukee WI, Omaha NE, Nevada MO, Sault Ste. Marie ON, Winnipeg MB and Duluth MN.

The Slam program was developed to give the elite player the opportunity to showcase their abilities to college coaches and professional scouts. Since there are no High School baseball programs in Thunder Bay, we are trying to give our players a chance to reach the next level, whether it is college or professional baseball.