Category Archives: News

Friday August 30th will open up the 2019 16U Ontario Championships here in Hamilton. Here are your opening day games which will be located at Mohawk Sports Complex. Come out, enjoy the baseball and say hi to the umpires!

11am Tecumseh vs London @ Bernie Arbour Stadium
11am Etobicoke vs Peterborough @ Mohawk 4
11am Mississauga North vs North Toronto @ Mohawk 5

2pm Oshawa vs Northumberland @ Bernie Arbour Stadium
2pm Newmarket vs Mississauga Majors @ Mohawk 4
2pm Barrie vs Milton @ Mohawk 5

Stay tuned to our website for all the results for the tournament games and the upcoming game match ups.

Congratulations to Steven Jaschinski and Chris Marco for being selected to work their respective league all star games this season.

Jaschinski will work 3B in the Carolina League (High-A) All Star Game, to be played June 18 in Frederick, MD. This will be Jaschinski’s second career All Star Game assignment (2018 – Midwest League) in his third season of professional baseball.

Marco will work 3B in the Eastern League (AA) All Star Game, to be played July 10 in Richmond, VA. This will be Marco’s second career All Star Game assignment (2014 – New York-Penn League) in his sixth season of professional baseball.

Both games can be viewed on MiLB.tv

In association with the Hamilton District Baseball Association (HDBA), the HBUA is proud to announce the creation of three supplemental umpire training dates over the off-season.

The date, time, and location of the programs are as follows:
Saturday March 16: 1pm-3pm, Calvin Christian School
Saturday March 30: 4pm-6pm, Calvin Christian School
Tuesday April 2: 6:30pm-8:30pm, St Eugene Catholic School

These clinics are FREE to all HDBA/HBUA umpires. These sessions are not intended as a replacement for attending a Baseball Ontario Umpire Clinic, but rather basic training to help build confidence in our newer umpires and shake off the rust for veterans.

Participants MUST register in advance for these programs – click here to do so. Walk-up registrations will NOT be permitted.

In order to reach out to as many umpires as possible we ask that you register for only one of these sessions.

Lastly, newly hired Minor League umpire Matt Blackborow, product of the HDBA/HBUA system, will be in attendance at all three sessions. Eastern League (AA) umpire Chris Marco will also be attending the April 2 session as an instructor.

We want to extend a very sincere congratulations to our own Matt Blackborow, who earlier this year attended the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy. He competed with 103 other students and was invited to the Umpire Development Evaluation Course, after which he was offered a job as a Minor League Baseball umpire.

Blackborow has since returned home and will await news of his first assignment. Most likely, Matt’s season will either begin in early-April with a trip to Extended Spring Training in Florida, or mid-June, in Florida’s Gulf Coast League.

Matt joins fellow HBUA alumni Chris Marco (AA Eastern League) and Steven Jaschinski (High-A Carolina League) as former HBUA umpires currently working in professional baseball.

On behalf of the entire HBUA, congratulations Matt!

Matt Blackborow (L) with MLB umpire Dan Iassogna at the MiLB Umpire Training Academy Graduation Banquet