Jack Lutte, catcher for the Butler Iron Bucks, hits a line drive during the championship game against 3B Barons in the North American Baseball Alliance in 2024. Butler Eagle File Photo

When the high school baseball season ends, Pullman Park won’t be quiet.

The ballpark will be busier than ever.

While the Butler BlueSox will not be returning — they last played in 2024 — the three-time Rust Belt League champion Butler Iron Bucks will be looking for a four-peat. The collegiate summer wooden bat team begins play in late May, the regular season ending in mid-July.

“We have about 26 players and 90% of our roster has been set since October,” second-year Iron Bucks coach Ken Creehan said. “We plan to play an entertaining brand of baseball, be aggressive at the plate and on the bases.”

The Rust Belt League has expanded to 12 teams this season. The farthest team from Butler is Altoona.

“Most of the teams are within an hour of us,” Creehan said.

He said the league may expand further over the next year or so.

“I think we can top out at 16 teams,” Creehan said. “If we do expand, it will probably be in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. The Outlaws (Washington County) are the only team we have there right now.

“We enjoy being the hunted, facing the challenge of staying on top. Most of the players in this league know each other and guys graduating from high school will get their first taste of college competition. It’s exciting.”

Atlantic Coast Baseball will be Pullman Park’s most frequent tenant. Beginning with a 12 to 15 team tournament Mother’s Day Weekend, ACB will have tournaments at Pullman Park over 10 weekends, through the end of July.

Atlantic Coast Baseball is a travel team organization owned by Knoch graduate Matt DeSantis. It runs tournaments from ages 8-under through 18-under in five states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and South Carolina.

DeSantis estimates more than 3,000 teams are under its umbrella.

“The Mother’s Day weekend tournament involves 90 teams overall, playing at different sites,” DeSantis said. “Trying to figure out who wins these tournaments is like solving the Rubik’s Cube. But there is a formula to it.”

DeSantis estimates that ACB “will play 125 to 150 games” at Pullman Park this year. The organization is expanding into soccer and lacrosse as well.

“Things are really taking off,” he said.

The National Club Baseball Association — an organization for collegiate club teams — will have a pair of Division III tournaments at Pullman Park. The first takes place this weekend, Friday through Sunday, as Robert Morris, John Carroll, York sand Mount St. Marys do battle in a double-elimination district tourney.

This will be one of four Division III district tournaments taking place. The other three are in Virginia, New Jersey and Wisconsin.

The four winners will compete in the NCBA Division III World Series May 15-17 at Pullman Park.

“We have about 300 member organizations in our association right now, including Division I and II teams,” NCBA director John Kortenber said. “That number is growing. It’s quality baseball and there will be no admission charge for these games.”

Butler Area School District athletic director Bill Mylan is in charge of scheduling at Pullman Park.

“We’ll be having high school playoff games here, too,” Mylan said. “Through July, we only have maybe a handful of open dates. It’s going to be pretty busy.”