The Chillicothe Paints are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chillicothe, Ohio, in the United States. The team is a member of the summer collegiate Prospect League. The Paints previously played in the professional independent Frontier League from 1993 to 2008. The Paints play their home games at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.
Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate from early June to early August. In contrast to college baseball, which allow aluminum or other composite baseball bats, players in these leagues use only wooden bats, hence the common nickname of these leagues as "wood-bat leagues". Collegiate summer leagues allow college baseball players the ability to compete using professional rules and equipment, giving them experience and allowing professional scouts the opportunity to observe players under such conditions.
Robin Roberts Stadium at Lanphier Park is a stadium in Springfield, Illinois. It is primarily used for baseball. It originally opened in 1928 as Reservoir Stadium and was renovated in 1977. It holds 5,200 people. The stadium was renamed after Robin Roberts (1926–2010), a Hall-of-Fame pitcher and a graduate of Lanphier High School who was Springfield's most accomplished ballplayer, in 1976. From 1972 to 1979, the NCAA Division II baseball tournament was held at Lanphier.
The Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL) was a collegiate wooden bat summer baseball league. It was composed of five teams from Illinois and Indiana. The CICL was founded in 1963 as a charter member of National Collegiate Athletic Association certified summer baseball. Although the NCAA dropped Summer baseball program in 2005, The CICL is one of ten summer collegiate baseball leagues affiliated with the National Association of Summer Collegiate Baseball (NASCB), which now takes over the duties of the NCAA and follows all NCAA requirements. The league was also is one of four summer college baseball leagues supported by Major League Baseball.
QU Stadium is a stadium in Quincy, Illinois originally known as Q Stadium. It is primarily used for baseball, but also has a separate football field. The baseball side of QU Stadium holds 2,000 people and the football/lacrosse side of holds 1,600 people. The football side of the stadium only has bleachers on one side of the field. The stadium is surrounded by its original limestone wall built in 1938. The stadium received a $4M renovation in 2015.
The Springfield Lucky Horseshoes are a collegiate summer league baseball team of the Prospect League. They play at Robin Roberts Stadium at Lanphier Park and are based in the city of Springfield, Illinois. The team was established in November 2007 as the Springfield Sliders and were an expansion franchise for the 2008 season. The Lucky Horseshoes and other collegiate summer leagues and teams exist to give top college players professional-like experience without affecting NCAA eligibility.
The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their college eligibility, players are not paid. Beginning in 2012, the league added four games to the season, making a total of 60 games per team.
The Hannibal Cavemen were a collegiate summer league baseball team located in Hannibal, Missouri, in the United States. They were a member of the West Division of the summer collegiate Prospect League from 2009–2016. The franchise began playing again as the Hannibal Hoots, in 2018.
The Quincy Gems were a collegiate summer league baseball team located in Quincy, Illinois.
The Normal CornBelters are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Normal, Illinois, which is part of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area. The franchise was formerly a professional team, and was a member of the independent Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball.
The Terre Haute REX are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Terre Haute, Indiana. They are a member of the summer collegiate Prospect League.
Several different minor league ballclubs have been based in the town of Danville, Illinois, fielding teams in 38 seasons between 1888 and 1982 under various monikers. The Danville Suns (1982), Danville Dodgers (1975–1976), Danville Warriors (1970–1974), Danville Dans (1951–1954), Danville Dodgers (1946–1950), Danville Veterans (1922–1932), Danville Speakers, Danville Old Soldiers (1906), Danville Champions (1900) and Danville Browns were the minor league teams. Danville teams played at Soldiers Home Park (1922–1932) and Danville Stadium (1946–1982).
The Lafayette Aviators are a summer collegiate baseball team based in Lafayette, Indiana. They are a member of the Eastern Conference of the summer collegiate Prospect League. The Aviators play at Loeb Stadium in Columbian Park in Lafayette, which opened in May 2021.
The Cape Catfish are a franchise of the Prospect League that plays in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp are a collegiate summer league baseball team in the Prospect League. They play at Veterans Memorial Park in Peru, Illinois, United States. The Pistol Shrimp formed in Lisle, Illinois, in late 2018 as an expansion franchise for the 2019 season, under the name DuPage Pistol Shrimp. They and other collegiate summer leagues and teams exist to give top college players professional-like experience without affecting NCAA eligibility.
The O'Fallon Hoots are a collegiate summer league baseball team in the United States Prospect League. The team played the 2018 and 2019 seasons as the Hannibal Hoots, but only one of those seasons saw them use Hannibal, Missouri as their home; flooding of their stadium led the Hoots to play their 2019 home schedule in nearby Quincy, Illinois at the home stadium of the Quincy Gems. Following the 2019 season, the Hoots moved to Carshield Field in O’Fallon, Missouri after the departure of the River City Rascals. The Hoots formed in late 2017 and were an expansion franchise for the 2018 season. The Hoots and other collegiate summer leagues and teams exist to give top college players professional-like experience without affecting NCAA eligibility.
The Alton Blues were a minor league baseball team based in Alton, Illinois. In 1917, the Blues played as members of the Class B level Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, hosting home games at Sportsman's Park. The league folded during the 1917 season with the Blues in last place.
The Alton River Dragons are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Alton, Illinois. They were founded in 2020 and began play in 2021 as members of the Prospect League.
Lloyd Hopkins Field is a baseball stadium in Alton, Illinois. Owned and operated by the city of Alton, it is the home field for the Alton River Dragons, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Prospect League, and for American Legion Baseball. Hopkins Field hosted American Legion teams from 1981 to 2015, and they returned in 2020. Hopkins Field was also the home of the Bluff City Bombers in the Central Illinois Collegiate League from 1998 to 2004.
The 2022 Prospect League season was the 13th season of collegiate summer baseball in the Prospect League, a collegiate summer baseball league in the Midwestern United States, since its creation in June 2009. There are 16 Prospect League teams, split evenly between Eastern and Western Conferences. These conferences are then split up between the Ohio River Valley, Wabash River, Great River, and Prairie Land divisions.
