Healdsburg Prune Packers hope to start season in July

There may be summer baseball after all. At least the Healdsburg Prune Packers hope so.

The California Collegiate League, 10 teams that include the Packers, announced it intends to start the 2020 season on July 1.

The league has been hosting biweekly meetings to assess the possibility of a full or abbreviated season for the hundreds of college baseball players who use the league to improve their skills and keep fit during the college offseason.

Tuesday, the franchise members of the league passed a motion to start the season on July 1, recognizing changing state or regional restrictions on large gatherings because of the coronavirus spread.

That date “will afford the league a better opportunity to evaluate the state’s application of their four-phase reopening plan and what part that will play in determining a protocol for league play,” the league said in an announcement Tuesday.

“We realize that these changes may result in a different look for the CCL during the 2020 season. That notwithstanding, we are committed to exhausting all reasonable options to conduct some form of a season this summer.”

A July 1 start date would see the season run through Aug. 9.

Prune Packers general manager and coach Joey Gomes said the league will adhere to state and local guidelines. Sonoma County’s shelter-in-place order has no specific end date, but the county health officer has said any large gatherings likely will be prohibited until Labor Day.

“Those decisions are out of our hands,” Gomes said. “All we can do is prepare as cautiously as possible in case we get to play.”

Gomes, who led the team to a 38-8 record last year, has put together a roster this year with about a dozen local players. Others come from universities throughout the country.

He’s itching to get back to playing baseball.

“Sonoma County needs the game back. I need the game back,” he said. “This roster is hands-down the most talented group I’ve put together. Would be fun to see this team play.”

If the league goes forward this summer, it will have nine teams. The San Luis Obispo Blues, one of the longest-tenured teams in the league, will take a one-year hiatus.

The other teams in the league are the Academy Barons, Arroyo Seco Saints, Conejo Oaks, Lincoln Potters, Orange County Riptide, Santa Barbara Foresters, Solano Mudcats and the Walnut Creek Crawdads.