Some details need to be ironed out, but the Tri-State Collegiate baseball league is up and running.

The field includes the Butler Iron Bucks and the Butler BlueSox, a new addition this year after the Pittsburgh Diamond Dawgs exited the league.

Other squads include the Pittsburgh Pandas, Black Sox, DuBois and two teams based in Ohio — Youngstown and Toledo.

The wooden-bat league is for players already established in college and those headed to a college program.

All seven teams will be scheduled to play 24 games, with doubleheaders mixed in with single games. A normal slate would include 28 contests. The 2020 season was originally set to start in late May.

“The two Ohio teams open league play by playing four games against each other this weekend,” said Shawn Manning, an organizer for the two Butler teams. “It feels good to know we will be playing baseball, see the guys have fun and get after it.”

The BlueSox are scheduled to open the season June 12 at DuBois. Tentatively, the BlueSox and Iron Bucks will face each other at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park June 15.

“There's still a lot of unknowns, we're still working things out with the schedule,” said Manning. “All of the BlueSox's home games should be at Pullman. There may be a home game here and there for the Iron Bucks that has to be played somewhere else.”

The BlueSox have a number of Butler County products on their 25-man roster. They include Butler graduates Colby Anderson, Nate Stutz, Jacob Keene, Ryan Lynn, Shawn Marcellus and Josh Grigoletti as well as Seneca Valley's Anthony Cinicola, Mars' Brandon Wetherholt, Knoch's Alex Altmeyer and Freeport's Sean Furlong and Tyler Hettich.

When asked how anxious he is to open the season, BlueSox manager Dan Helgert exclaimed, “Big time, man! I have a gym and I train athletes. I'm close with my players, talk to 'em all the time.

“These guys missed the (spring) season. We were supposed to have a five-game homestand to start, then things got pushed back. It will be the first game in a long time for the players.”

The Iron Bucks are led by first-year manager Matt Marrone.

“I took over in February and never got a chance to meet the players,” he said. “Hopefully, once we go green, we'll get a practice in before the season starts.”

Whether or not the league holds a playoff tournament remains to be seen.

“Our goal is to have the league's season done by the third week of July,” said Manning. “We're thinking about a format that will have all seven teams in the playoffs, but we may also decide not to have a postseason. There's a lot of moving pieces right now and that's the last piece for us. We'll tackle that after we get the season started.

“Playoffs are cool, but the main goal is to develop players, give guys a chance to see live pitching and live hitting.”

Marrone believes baseball fans will appreciate the opportunity to come to games after a hollow spring.

“Everyone has been through so much the last few months,” said Marrone. “We understand why things have been shut down, but hopefully, these games will be a release for the players, community, everyone involved.”