Mainline Pharmacy will defend three titles as the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League season opens in a Monday night doubleheader at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point.
Mainline Pharmacy won the 2025 JCBL regular-season and playoff championships. Then-first-year manager Chance Osborne’s squad won the 80th All American Amateur Baseball Association Tournament in an all-Johnstown affair against Martella’s Pharmacy.
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“After coming off of a successful season, the standard for this franchise is set,” said Osborne, whose Mainline Pharmacy squad will face The Hill Group at 7:45 p.m. on opening night of the 29-game season.
Martella’s Pharmacy and Infinity Practical Solutions will play at 5:30 p.m. at the Point.
“We are well-aware that the league will be highly competitive and we look forward to a competitive season,” Osborne said.
The JCBL dropped to four teams after the former Laurel Auto Group franchise exited after the 2025 season.
For the first time in 12 years, the local league and the four-team Altoona AAABA League will play an interleague schedule this season.
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Johnstown and Altoona squads will play each other a total of eight times during the regular season.
“We hate to lose a team and we’re always looking for teams and will accept all comers,” veteran JCBL Commissioner Don Stanton said. “The four teams we have are going to be competitive.”
The JCBL will include Infinity Practical Solutions, Mainline Pharmacy, Martella’s Pharmacy and The Hill Group.
The Altoona AAABA League will include 2025’s champion Cumming Motors and new teams Alexander Financial Group, Imler’s Poultry and MH Electric.
“We’ve added Altoona and their four-team AAABA League,” Stanton said. “We will play each team twice, once at our place and once at their place.”
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The Blair County league will host games at Altoona’s Veterans Memorial Field. Stanton said most of the Altoona games at Johnstown will be inside Sargent’s Stadium.
“I’ve got four really quality teams, two new managers, two new sponsors. I’m excited to see what we can do,” said Matt Cursio, president of the Altoona AAABA League. “The competition playing against the Johnstown teams will definitely improve both leagues.
“We can produce quality teams to get to the national tournament in August.”
The local league also will play regular-season dates at Central Cambria and Forest Hills high schools, as well as Dee Dee Osborne Field at Roxbury Park.
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“With only four teams, that enables us to use the Point for doubleheaders when the Mill Rats are out of town,” Stanton said. “At the end of the season, we hope to play some games at Mount Aloysius College. They are getting their turf redone early in June so we couldn’t schedule games there early in the season.”
Stanton said the All American Amateur Baseball Association will implement a courtesy runner rule this season, and the local league will adapt by using the PIAA courtesy runner rule.
“Last year, the AAABA Tournament put in the extra hitter rule,” Stanton said. “This year, the AAABA will put in the courtesy runner.
“If you ask me, every year it seems like they’re getting further away from Major League Baseball (rules). I understand we’re a college league and I understand it’s a college tournament, but you should never hear in baseball, ‘Batting 10th.’ There definitely should not be a courtesy runner in baseball.”
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The JCBL regular season will be played from Monday through July 14. The best-of-5 semifinal round playoff series are to begin July 17, with the best-of-5 final set for July 22.
The 81st AAABA Tournament will be Aug. 3-8.
