CHICO >> Summer league wood bat baseball with local college players is back in Chico. Not in the form of the Chico Heat, but the Chico Lone Wolves have began their inaugural season in a similar format run by the Lohse Baseball Academy in Chico.

The Lone Wolves are the newest team competing in the Bay Area Collegiate League, a league made up of the Stockton Pearls, Concord Zephyrs, Pleasanton Jaxx, Bay Area Marauders, Marysville Giants, California Red Tails and the South Bay Storm.

The team is run by Erik Lohse and managed by Kelvin Day, and features primary players from the Chico area or ones who have previous ties to Butte County from their high school days. Lohse played professionally as high as AA before an injury derailed his career and his brother Kyle Lohse pitched 16 seasons in the MLB for six different teams. Day played Division I at Kansas State.

“For me it was a no-brainer because Kelvin already had a rapport with a lot of these guys,” Lohse said about hiring Day as the manager. “For me we see eye to eye, and we both have played high level baseball. We all get hurt at some point, but we never lose the joy and being able to put that dream of these kids as our priority. We get along extremely well and we know what the ultimate goal is.”

Speaking of goals, Lohse outlined two things that he feels are key in the Lone Wolves’ first summer season.

“The ultimate goal is every guy getting to where they want to go is number one, but number two obviously we want to get division one and professional guys out there,” Lohse said. “Me and my brother fought against people saying it’s just the North State when we were growing up. There’s a lot of people that told us there’s no way you can do it, enjoy what you have now, and we said no there’s more out there and I’m bringing that attitude to these guys.”

Lohse said the ultimate goal is for players to have a fun environment to play in but be to be competitive as well.

Chico High alumnus Ryan Edwards and Pleasant Valley High School alumnus Nick Anderson are two players playing for the Lone Wolves, and both came for similar but different reasons.

Edwards, a pitcher, played for Day growing up so the two had a relationship already. Edwards missed last season at Folsom Lake College due to hip surgery, so he’s using the first half of the summer to make sure his body feels right before leaving to Illinois for the Prospect League.

“It’s getting me used to getting back on the mound and throwing to hitters again and making sure everything feels good,” Edwards said. “It’s really fun because I get to play with all my boys I haven’t got to play with in forever and some of my old teammates I didn’t get to play with last year. It’s kind of a last little hurrah. It’s something fun to do before I head out and continue to do what I’m doing.”

Anderson, who played second base at Feather River College last season, joined the Lone Wolves because of his relationship with Lohse, who he has worked with playing for the Chico Aces.

“(Lohse) helped me with pitching and helped me with hitting, just ultimately being there for me,” Anderson said. “He’s been a great guy in my life, so I want to give this summer to him. He’s been helping me out so I’d like to play for him. I had a couple other offers to play other places, but ultimately I think I’m going to gain the most playing for Lohse and ultimately having fun with these guys. This is a great team and we have a lot of fun.”

Lohse said his sales pitch to his players was his reputation and players getting to play with former teammates and coaches they’ve known and had success with. While there are a couple of players from the Sacramento area who have trained with Lohse in the past, he said the “immediate priority which I’ve made crystal clear is this is for the local community.”

“If I can do it they definitely can, and I’m talking about playing professionally,” Lohse said. “Are we all going to do it? Absolutely not, but if your mind isn’t open to it you’re unable to do it. I’m kind of a free and easy guy to be around, but when we get into work we’re working … For me they can see me, I’m not 6-foot-5 throwing 100. I’m a regular dude, but it’s the grind. These guys are a bunch of grinders and hopefully we have some fun putting up some wins.”

Lone Wolves vs. the Heat >> Many of the Lone Wolves players grew up watching the Chico Heat and are excited to see summer college baseball back in their hometown.

When Lohse was asked how the Lone Wolves could make it work when the Chico Heat organization fell apart on multiple occasions, he said that he wasn’t familiar with the funding part and why it did or did not happen with the Heat. He did note that they are keeping costs down by not playing at Nettleton Stadium and rather at Doryland Field, Chico Eastside Little League and Butte College, and at least in the first season, will not have any spectacles going on, such as a mascot.

“The kids and their families are pitching in, and honestly it’s not a moneymaker. At this point they’ve spent a ton of money on travel ball already and I wanted them to be able to at least play games,” Lohse said. “Part of what you see is we can make it work at a park. I would love to be in a huge stadium but that’s not in the cards, especially year one. We don’t have a mascot running around, maybe we evolve into that, but for me we’re just being careful money-wise to not get too out of hand with it. The biggest point was to get them competition applicable to what they face in college. For me we got exactly what we wanted.”

Hitting with wood bats >> Lohse talked about the Lone Wolves using a wood bats in the summer league opposed to the traditional BBCOR aluminum bats used in college. He said he likes it because of the smaller sweet spot and, “it tells the truth.”

He spoke about how if players ultimately want to get to the MLB, that’s what they will be ultimately be swinging.

“You don’t get away with anything,” Lohse said. “For me it probably favors the pitchers. It also allows me to teach the pitchers to go inside because they have to protect that and then they can go outside. It teaches those kids to be more grown-up with their approaches. You’re not just free swinging and it could cost you a couple hundred bucks too (if it breaks).”

Schedule >> The Lone Wolves’ schedule will consist primarily of teams from the Bay Area Collegiate League, but they will also play a couple of exhibitions in larger stadiums against teams such as the Humboldt Crabs and the Lincoln Potters.

“I was lucky enough to play in atmospheres like that, so I want these guys to feel that too,” Lohse said. “That’s part of what I miss the most is the travel and being able to have a crowd, whether it’s home or away, and being able to perform in front of that.”

Games are nine innings, with the exception of doubleheaders which are played in a nine-inning/seven-inning format. Through six games so far the Lone Wolves have a record of 5-1. Their remaining schedule includes:

6/17, 6:35 p.m. at Lincoln Potters; 6/18, 3 p.m. vs. Marysville Giants, Butte College; 6/20, 6 p.m. at Stockton Pearls, Billy Hebert Field (Stockton); 6/21, 11 a.m./2 p.m. at Stockton Pearls, St. Mary’s HS (Stockton); 6/24, 7 p.m. at Humboldt Crabs, Arcata; 6/25, 7 p.m. at Humboldt Crabs, Arcata; 6/28, 3 p.m. vs. Marysville Giants, Chico Eastside; 6/29, 2 p.m. at Marysville Giants, Marysville; 7/2, 6 p.m. at Healdsburg Prune Packers, Healdsburg; 7/3, 3 p.m. at Healdsburg Prune Packers, Healdsburg; 7/8, 4 p.m. at Concord Zephyers, Concord HS; 7/9, 4 p.m. vs. Concord Zephyers, Butte College; 7/10, 1 p.m. vs. Concord Zephyers, Butte College; 7/12, 3 p.m. vs. Pleasanton Jaxx’s, Chico Eastside; 7/13, TBD, BACL All Star Game, Billy Hebert Field (Stockton); 7/15, 2/5 p.m. at Pleasanton Jaxx’s, Chabot College; 7/16, 3 p.m. vs. Bay Area Marauders, Chico Eastside; 7/19, 2/5 p.m. at Bay Area Marauders, Sac State University; 7/20, 7 p.m. at Redding Colt 45’s, Redding Tiger Field.

The BACL Playoffs will be held July 26 and 27 at Billy Hebert Field in Stockton.