Junior Intercounty in Friendly City in 2026

Wranglers return Woodstock to 22U Intercounty baseball

Compiled by : Mark Schadenberg

It’s a big ‘welcome back’ to the Woodstock Minor Ball Association in re-joining the 22U Intercounty Baseball Association league in 2026.

The Woodstock Wranglers will call the Tip O’Neill Sportsfield in Southside Park home and compete against the likes of Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Brantford, London, Hamilton and always-strong in the hardball game in Welland.

This is not, however, Woodstock first entry in the IC Junior league as I was part of a group of teams in that league in the 1990s – called the Woodstock Navy Vets (Sponsorship from Oxford County Naval Veterans Association and others) . It’s difficult to remember the names of all the top players in that time frame, but this column will certainly be full of additional name dropping as the navy blue jersey was worn by Brett Carter, Jamie Cook, Jay Grevers, Mike Perterman and many others.

I recall those 4 players first as they all played Inter County with either the London Majors or Brantford Red Sox.

A team doesn’t win or lose without a strong cast of coaches. My role ranged from general manager (Attended many meetings in Cambridge when Art Fach was commissioner), WMBA executive, organizer of Kid Night games / fundraisers, uniform inventory including cap creations, first base coach, official scorer, ballpark announcer, batting practice pitcher, team treasurer, and the buyer of pop and sunflower seeds. My importance to the operations angle of the team increased over the years.

Coaches and trainers (junior and midget age groups) ranged from Jack Carter to Frank Konigshofer, Steve Chesley, Ted Gilbert, Don Martin, Henry Grevers, Randy Small, Wayne House, Jack Bradley, Pat Hovorka Sr, Pat Hovorka Jr, and Howie Brown. The downfall of a name dropping exercise is somewhat akin to playing the infield as a dropped ball (forgotten name) is an unintentional error, so I apologize in advance.

There were also the Junior IC Woodstock Rangers about 10 years ago, but I wouldn’t guess on the number of different team monikers before 1990 in the junior, juvenile and midget age groups.

Woodstock’s return to 22U junior ICBA is important as talented players would have to travel outside Oxford for top-level baseball squads to join. To become the best – you must play against the best and receive top-line coaching. In this age bracket, many players are student-athletes in the U.S. at a level of NCAA or NAIA.

The Wranglers head coach for 2026 is Travis Schroeder

Oxford-area ball players with post-secondary diamond experience includes current Texas Rangers MLB pitching coach Jordan Tiegs, plus Brendan Burns, Tyler Schaefer, Brady Shapton, Ty Shapton, Brian Griswold, Joel Stubbs, Matt Gray, Keith Agnew, Shawn Watts, Tyson Kaufman, Alex Kean, Matt Evans, Andrew Savage, Tanner Jacko, Ethan Baptie, Brayden Castellani, Carter Roth, Jordan Vitias, Jordan Bahnuk, Kalib Ford, and Zach Rachar. Again – not a complete list, but I must thank retired Toronto Sun baseball writer Bob Elliott as he has annually compiled a list of Canadians from all corners of the country competing on a U.S. college club. Elliott has a website called the Canadian Baseball Network as a thorough glossary of Canuck baseball players dating back more than the last generation.

I will follow these 22U Wranglers this season, learn a little about their roster and ‘catch’ some action at the Tip (Tip O’Neill Sportsfield)