The Butler BlueSox and Butler Iron Bucks both open their 2022 Tri-State Collegiate Baseball League seasons this weekend at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Pullman Park.

The teams will play a 28-game regular season schedule, with six of the league’s eight teams qualifying for the playoffs. The playoffs are scheduled to begin July 21.

“We didn’t have a postseason the last two years because of COVID and field availability,” Iron Bucks manager Shawn Manning said. “The league is bringing back the playoffs this season.”

The Creekside Crocodiles, based in Youngstown, won the TSCBL regular season championship last year. The BlueSox and Iron Bucks shared the league crown in 2020. The TSCBL consists of the Iron Bucks, BlueSox, Creekside, Toledo Hawks, DuBois Bucks and three new teams — the 3B Barons out of New Castle, Johnston Realty and Cummings Motors, both out of the Johnstown/Altoona area.

Manning and BlueSox manager Dan Helgert coordinate the rosters of both Butler teams.

“We help each other out,” Helgert said. “If they need a middle infielder, for example, we’ll send them one, or vice versa. We just want to give these kids a chance to play.”

Manning said: “Our focus continues to be helping to prepare these guys for baseball at the next level, to make them better when they report to their campuses in the fall.”

The BlueSox open the season at 7 p.m. Friday against the 3B Barons at Pullman Park. Trevor Wilson, a Penn-Trafford graduate now playing for Division I Gardner-Webb, will pitch for the BlueSox. The team hosts the 3B Barons again at 7 p.m. Saturday, with Seneca Valley graduate Carter Beneigh of Mount St. Marys pitching for Butler.

The BlueSox then host Cummings Motors in a doubleheader at noon Sunday.

The Iron Bucks begin the season Saturday with a noon doubleheader against Cummings Motors at Pullman. Gio Scott, a Penn-Trafford graduate now playing for Pitt-Johnstown, will pitch Game 1 while Canon-McMillan graduate Matt Graeber, now with Gannon, will toe the rubber in Game 2.

Graduating Butler senior Cooper Baxter, heading to Indiana (Pa.) University, will play shortstop for the Iron Bucks in one of the two games Saturday. Baxter played in the Iron & Oil Baseball League at Pullman the past four summers.

“Our teams draw a lot of players from that league,” Manning said. “Cooper is one of them. He will play a lot of baseball for us.”

The Iron & Oil circuit is a five-team high school league that begins play Monday and plays an 18-game schedule. The bulk of those games will be played at Pullman, with two weekend slate of games scheduled for Westminster College. Two Butler area teams, Slippery Rock, Pine-Richland and Freeport comprise the league.

Four Seneca Valley graduates are on the BlueSox roster: Beneigh, catcher-first baseman Quinn Burk (Chatham), outfielder Dustin Horne (Pitt-Johnstown) and outfielder-pitcher Andrew Tkatch (West Chester).

“We’re very deep in pitching,” Helgert said. “Overall, I think this league will be very competitive this year. A record of just a few games above .500 will probably win it.”

Manning has been involved in the league for eight years and “we’ve developed a lot of contacts with college coaches,” he said. “Word of mouth has helped us get players as well.

“Our schedule is spread out so kids can work, Attend summer classes ... some of them have already started their own businesses. One of the best parts of doing this is watching these guys develop into tremendous young men. It’s rewarding being a part of it.”