Laconia gets NECBL team

LACONIA – The crack of the wooden bat will be heard across the Lakes Region this coming summer as Laconia has secured a New England Collegiate Baseball franchise.

Father and son Jonathan and Noah Crane of Hanover have purchased the Manchester, Conn., Silkworms franchise and are relocating it to the Robbie Mills Memorial Sports Complex on Meredith Center Road.

Last week, the Cranes received approval from the NECBL to bring the team to Laconia, subject to field modifications, which begin this week when bids are opened.

The City of Lanconia, which developed the field in 2005 on land owned by the State of New Hampshire, has agreed to spend about $70,000 to upgrade stands.

The outfield fence needs to be extended, as do the dugouts, and a press box needs to be constructed to make it comply with league standards, according to Noah Crane, general manager.

Laconia Savings Bank has made a $75,000 donation to upgrade the field. About $80,000 will be spent by the Cranes to complete the renovations in time for opening day, June 4.

The team will play 22 home games, beginning in June and ending in early August. Tickets will top out at $5.

There are 12 teams in the league, which was created in Connecticut in 1994. New Hampshire already has the Keene Swamp Bats, a highly successful franchise that averaged 1,433 fans at Alumni Field over 20 games last summer. Also, the NECBL once boasted the Concord Quarry Dogs, who played at Memorial Field from 2001 to 2007, leading the league in attendance in their first year.

Seating in the stands at Mills Field is currently about 100 in bleachers.

Crane said the location of Concord was not a good fit because of the close proximity to professional baseball in Manchester, which has the Fisher Cats.

But Laconia is ideally suited, he said, because if its summer appeal to vacationers who will be able to come out for an evening of exceptionally good college level baseball. It might even be more attractive to the top-level college players who will stay with host families for the summer on or near the shores of Lakes Winnipesaukee, Winnisquam and Opechee.

Crane said he already has 22 of the 28 spots on his roster taken and is drawing from the finest collegiate baseball players from across the nation, who cannot play professionally without losing their amateur standing. Many will be coming from top college teams such as the University of Massachusetts, where Crane pitched for a number of years.

"This is a wooden bat league" Crane said. NCAA baseball in the spring is generally played with aluminum bats.

Eileen Cabanel, city manager, said the whole idea came on the radar only about six weeks ago when the Cranes approached her about the use of Mills Field.

"It seemed like everything worked out really well," she said, noting all permits and approvals have been met.

Crane said it was the enthusiasm of Laconia city officials for the project that sealed the deal.

He said the non-profit enterprise will bring great baseball to the Lakes Region but it will be the volunteers who will help park cars at Risely Field (across the street) put up the athletes in local homes, work the concessions and do other things that will make it "really a community-based effort."

"We are looking to win the league," Crane said. "So for us, it (Laconia) is going to be an easy sell."

The team is still unnamed and a contest is under way to name it at www.laconiabaseball@gmail.com.

The field is named for Robbie Mills, a young athlete in Laconia, who was murdered and robbed of his bicycle in 1998.

In the past few years, Babe Ruth baseball has played on the field, and that league will be able to continue to play on the field, both Cabanel and Crane assured.

►New England Collegiate Baseball League Web site.