By Mary Helen Kelly
The Brookhaven Bucks baseball team is back for its fifth season with a former major league baseball player as the team’s new head coach.
Infielder Corey Patterson, who played with the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles, will guide the 2015 Bucks team.
“We could not be more excited to have Coach Patterson join the Bucks this season,” said Brad Dickison, owner and general manager of the Bucks. “Coach Patterson is an incredible player, and we can’t wait to see how that translates as our head coach.”
“I’m glad to be back on a baseball field,” Patterson said in a press release from the team. “We’ve got a great group of players.”
The Bucks play in the Sunbelt League, a summer league for college players that fields teams in Georgia and Alabama. Sunbelt League teams use wooden bats, like major league teams. Players on the 2015 team come from 19 colleges and universities covering eight states, the team’s website says.
The Bucks play their home games at Oglethorpe University. The season opened June 1 and is to continue through mid-July. Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for children. The team’s schedule can be found at the team’s website, brookhavenbucks.com.
Dickison has owned the not-for-profit team for the past four seasons. He said he has learned a lot about baseball and has come to understand how much goes into a “baseball family.”
Dickison said the team is looking into hosting youth camps to interact with young players and coaches in the area. The team also is considering hosting free classes during which the Bucks players would help parents learn how to teach their children to play baseball.