Greenwich Cannons Announce Tryout Dates, Team Lineup

The Greenwich Cannons American Legion Baseball program will be holding tryouts for the 2015 Spring-Summer season on Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31.

The Jan. 30 session will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 31 from 4 to 5:30 p.m., both at Bobby Valentine’s Sports Academy, 72 Camp Ave. in Stamford.

Players may obtain further information and register for the tryouts now on the Cannons Web site: www.greenwichcannons.com. There is no fee to tryout, but pre-registration is required.

The Cannons will field teams at three levels in the Connecticut Chapter of American Legion Baseball, the nation’s pre-eminent youth baseball organization: Senior Cannons (17-19 year olds); Junior Cannons (15-17 year olds); and Prep Cannons (13-15 year olds).

It is the goal of Greenwich American Legion Baseball to provide a unique baseball experience for players seeking the highest levels of competition. The objective is to attract players from ages 13 to 19 in Greenwich who are committed to playing baseball and who aspire to compete at the high school level and beyond.

Each Cannons team will play in the competitive Connecticut American Legion Zone 4, including teams from Stamford, Norwalk, New Canaan/Darien, Trumbull, Fairfield, Wilton, Ridgefield, Bridgeport and Westport.

Cannons players on college baseball rosters include:

• Ryan Marks, Columbia
• Taylor Olmstead, UCONN (Drafted by Texas Rangers, 2013)
• Bradley Wilpon, UPenn (Drafted by Boston Red Sox, 2014)
• Dylan Callahan, Trinity
• Kyle Dunster, Boston College (Drafted by New York Mets, 2014)
• Mike Dunster, Clemson
• JT Hintzen, Sewanee
• Ryan Hardin, Amherst

According to Senior Legion coach Mike Abate, the Cannons offer committed players the opportunity to develop skills under professional coaching, while playing the highest level of competition.

“Starting with the Prep team, and carrying through to the Seniors, the Cannons program has a single mission – to help Greenwich’s most serious young baseball players reach their potential,” said Abate.

“For some, that is playing high school ball at Greenwich High, Brunswick or other private schools. But for many others the Legion path leads to college and professional baseball. The coaching staff at all levels work with each player to help them reach their individual goals,” added Abate.

The coaching staffs for each team have been announced and are as follows:

• Senior Team: Mike Abate and Rich Sullivan
• Junior Team: Frank Carbino and Joe McHugh
• Prep Team: Ryan Jones and Mike Micik.

For additional information and to register for tryouts, please visit the Cannons website at www.greenwichcannons.com.

A limited number of coaching opportunities are available for qualified candidates. Please contact Kevin Kelly to arrange an interview: kevink2009@earthlink.net.

About Greenwich Cannons:
Greenwich American Legion Baseball was formed in 2004 in order to offer a highly competitive baseball experience for youth baseball players in Greenwich. The goal of the program is to provide the opportunity for dedicated baseball players to compete at a high level against the most skilled teams in Connecticut and Westchester County. Players are instructed by a first rate group of professional coaches for all three teams with exceptional baseball backgrounds both as players and as coaches.

Contributed photo.