Pete Frates, a former Boston College baseball player whose Ice Bucket Challenge raised millions for ALS research, is shown being honored at Fenway Park in April 2015. Frates died in 2019 from the disease. On Friday, a doubleheader featuring top college baseball players from Maine will be held at Hadlock Field to benefit the Pete Frates Family Foundation. AP Photo/Elise Amendola
A doubleheader at Hadlock Field on Friday will help to raise money for the Pete Frates Family Foundation in its ongoing quest to raise awareness and resources to cure ALS.
In the process of helping, fans can watch some of the best college-age baseball players from Maine and even former Sea Dogs pitcher and 2007 Red Sox World Series winner Manny Delcarmen back on the mound in Portland.
Delcarmen, 39, currently pitches for the Lexington Blue Sox of the Intercity Baseball League, a Boston-based league that often counts former professional players on its rosters.
Friday’s first game at 5 p.m. pits the Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League’s all-star team against the Northeast Tides of the North Shore (Massachusetts) League. The nightcap, scheduled to start at 7 p.m., features the Blue Sox against a combination of GNCBL all-stars and Northeast Tides players. A meet-and-greet and autograph session with Delcarmen is also scheduled.
Admission is free but donations for the cause are encouraged.
“I would love to have a thousand people there. That would be a home run for me,” said Max Salevsky, the commissioner of the host GNCBL. “That way we could get together some good money to give to the foundation.”
Pete Frates, a former player and captain at Boston College who also played for the Blue Sox, learned he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2012. Two years later, Frates’ Facebook post of having a bucket of ice water dumped on his head set off a worldwide viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” movement that drove more than $100 million to ALS research. Frates died in December 2019 at the age of 34.
Members of Frates’ family are expected to be in attendance Friday.
Manny Delcarmen pitched for the Portland Sea Dogs in 2005 before eventually joining the Boston Red Sox. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Delcarmen started the 2005 season with the Sea Dogs before earning promotions to Pawtucket and then Boston. He pitched primarily for the Red Sox until being traded to the Colorado Rockies in 2010, including 44 regular-season and six postseason appearances in 2007.
The GNCBL formed in 2017 to give current college-eligible players, with a few select 2021 high school graduates, a chance to play and improve in a competitive summer league while being close to home to allow for work and internship opportunities. Most of the players are from Maine. Games are played at several fields, including The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach, Mahaney Diamond at St. Joseph’s College and Goodall Park in Sanford.
Cam Guarino, a left-handed pitcher from Falmouth and the University of New Haven, is a two-time GNCBL all-star. He said the opportunity to play at Hadlock is always a thrill, but the worthy cause is what’s most significant about Friday’s event.
“ALS is pretty close to the heart of baseball. I mean, it’s known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. I think it should be intrinsic to some type of baseball fundraising,” Guarino said, adding that Frates should be known for more than “just the Ice Bucket Challenge. It’s awesome that he started that, and sad he lost his fight with (ALS), but we’re trying to bring more awareness and raise more money.”
GNCBL all-stars include University of Southern Maine players Arlo Pike (Bonny Eagle), Brogan Searle-Belanger (Thornton), Jason Komulainen (Gorham), Janek Luszka (Oxford Hills) and Wyatt Williamson (Oxford Hills). Other all-stars who played high school ball in southern Maine are future UMass Lowell infielder Jacob Humphrey (2021 Bonny Eagle grad); Nate Rogers (Cheverus) of St. Michael’s College; Merrimack College’s Ben Nelson (Gorham), Assumption’s Justin Coppeta (Westbrook); Allegheny College’s Hunter Lohr (Mt. Ararat); Bowdoin’s Luke Chessie (Thornton Academy); UMaine-Farmington’s Riley Bartell (Deering); Southern Maine Community College’s Tyler Apodaca (Traip Academy); and Nichols College teammates Pat Sawyer (Thornton) and Garrett Tracy (Falmouth).
UMaine utility man Colby Emmertz, who went to high school in North Carolina but lives in Falmouth, is another all-star.
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