Joel McGrath hasn't played an officially competitive game of baseball since high school. His summer stint in the NSRBL with the Unity Jr. Cardinals was the closest thing he could get, as he headed into his second year of college baseball.

"It's been a while." laughed McGrath, "Literally the last time I played a really competitive game was my Grade 11 year"

McGrath was a Minot State University commit after his time with the Badlands Baseball Academy in Oyen, though most of his time in North Dakota was spent rehabbing his pitching arm. He came out and threw confidently for the Beavers when he could, but continued issues with his throwing arm led to his coaches giving the freshman a red-shirt.

Joel transferred this past off-season, being picked up by the Colby Community College in Colby, Kansas. Saskatchewan talent has succeeded at this spot before, as 2020 MLB Draft Pick Logan Hoffman started his college career as a Colby Trojan.

He completed his transfer to Colby CC prior to the school year, and is taking Agriculture Business. The Colby CC agriculture program may not stack up to some of it's Saskatchewan counter-parts, but McGrath says Colby shares a lot of similarities with his hometown of Kindersley. One agricultural staple of the area however, is featured prominently beyond center field.

"Our field overlooks a corn-field" said McGrath, "There is a lot of corn, and cattle and stuff like that,"

His pitching repertoire features a cut-fastball, a vulcan-change, and a 12-6 knuckle-curve.

A normal fall season would have featured tons of action for the rusty McGrath, but unfortunately he was only held to intra-squad match-ups within the Trojans roster. McGrath spent the fall practicing live against his teammates, and was quickly introduced to Colby's wind tunneled field of dreams.

"I think we had like 27 (home runs) one day. We are literally on an air stream at this field."

Now that the real season is approaching, McGrath talked about how excited he is for all the talent featured on this years Colby Trojans squad, that once again includes a strong cast of Canadians.

"There are three Saskatchewan guys on the team in Tyler McWillie, Kyle Froehlich, and then me. Nearly half of our team is Canadian, a lot of guys I played against in Alberta."

Even with the fun Canadian connections McGrath has on the roster, he knows that they have a very top-to-bottom lineup, with some great pitching options as well, after adding last year's NAIA Saves leader into the mix. The potential could be there for Colby CC to make a super-regionals run, or even take their shot at the College World Series.

Scheduled trips to Texas, New Mexico, and other already planned games out of state have already been cancelled, with the regular season set to begin in just a few weeks. McGrath is looking to slot into either a mid-week starter role, or a conference relief pitcher position for the Trojans this season.