What once seemed like a distant dream now appears far more tangibly in sight.

That one sentence could easily serve as the credo for all of the young athletes who will don the Sudbury Voyageurs uniforms on ball diamonds locally and across the province and beyond this summer.

Dreams of playing major league ball might be common place south of the border, but in this region where even the best of fields are only just becoming available for practices, the notion was much more far fetched.

To the best of our knowledge, only one Phil “Babe” Marchildon could lay claim to qualifying as a Sudburian who would make it to the highest level of the game – and that claim is rather tenuous.

Born in Penetanguishene in 1913 and plying his trade with the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox as World War II dominated global headlines, Marchildon was in Sudbury working at Creighton Mines and playing in what was then a rather decent regional league when he was convinced to attend a tryout with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League in 1938.

Truth be told, his time in the nickel city was rather brief.

That is not the case, however, for 21 year-old Gavin Roy, the Valley East native who has started at shortstop every single one of the thirty plus games the Washington State Cougars have contested to date.

It is the likes of Gavin Roy and pitcher Scooter Rienguette, hoping to take to the mound this spring or next with the Kansas State Wildcats that provide the motivation for the current crop of Voyageurs, prospects such as Hudson Fletcher and Félix Aubin, both members of the 18U squad that opens PBLO (Premier Baseball League of Ontario) play this coming weekend with a four game set at home opposite the Ontario Yankees.

“We’re progressing as a program , which is great,” noted Fletcher, a 17 year old long-time club member who has toiled primarily at third base and as a pitcher, though he may see reps at first base as well this summer. “Every year, I feel like we are getting better than the last year.”

“This year, our numbers are looking really good.”

Where the concept of the Baseball Academy, the brainchild of local high-school physical educator Jean-Gilles Larocque, was a modest one at inception, making due with what was availed to him in an old elementary school in Rayside-Balfour, the current set-up off Lorne Street substantially levels the playing field for athletes in these parts wishing to pit themselves against the best the province and country have to offer.

“We have so many great resources, different machines and all that,” said Fletcher. “We workout a lot here. It’s great for hitting, a good turf for fielding and a nice weight room.”

And with role models above them who have successfully leveraged opportunities at the junior college level, transitioning through to noteworthy scholarships at legitimate NCAA Division I schools, the realistic possibilities of their pursuit are far more clear now than when Larocque and company first ventured down this pathway some twenty years ago.

“I talk a lot with Gavin about stuff,” suggested Aubin, also a middle infielder who would dearly love to emulate the defensive excellence of the former hockey talent who hit .317 in his final year at Cloud County CC in Kansas and earned WCBL (Western Canadian Baseball League) all-star status with the Sylvan Lake Gulls last summer.

“As with everything, gaining more maturity in terms of being a complete baseball player throughout is important,” Aubin continued. “Gavin is a great example of that. Learning from him and his experiences has helped a lot.”

While personal development may be front and centre for the majority of the young Voyageurs over the course of the next few months, winning ball games along the way is always a nice bonus – and it’s something their PBLO teams have done with some regularity in recent years.

“I would say that we’re looking pretty solid this year with a really good team dynamic,” noted Fletcher, commenting on an 18U crew that returns only a small handful of players from the 2024 edition of this age group. That said, it’s an influx of solidly schooled 16U graduates that has General Manager / Program Director Ethan Jodouin particularly excited.

“We’ve got a lot of arms this year,” added Fletcher. “I think the biggest change (from 16U to 18U) is with the pitchers. There’s more velocity. It’s faster baseball.”

All of which then makes the focus that Félix Aubin is devoting to each and every plate appearance all the more understandable. “There’s a lot of mental work, just finding an approach that works for me, routines that help me be thoughtless at the plate and let the body flow and do its thing naturally,” noted the 18 year old senior at Ecole secondaire Hanmer.

“My spray chart would be from second base and over to the right,” continued the right-handed hitter who first started with the Jr Vees some nine or ten years ago. “I like to let the ball get deep and then stay on it.”

And like Fletcher, Aubin is optimistic about what 2025 holds in store.

“There’s a lot of leadership in this group,” he opined. “I think we’ve matured in that way, knowing how to win and stay composed. We’ve got a lot of young, talented guys coming up which creates a really good dynamic to feed off, to compete and win games.”

And if that opens the door to a more prolonged future in baseball, these lads are more than happy to follow the trail that has been blazed before them. Following are rosters for each of the three Voyageurs teams this summer:

18U Division: A.J. Dubeau, Brady Soucy, Braiden Paul, Brody Mabbott, Chris St Germain, Colton Nowoselsky, Ethan Thompson, Félix Aubin, Gabriel Larocque, Hudson Fletcher, Justin Dandeneau, Mason Belleau, Max Arnold, Callum Baron, Ryan Spencer, Will Burns, Nate Parsons and Noah Portelance

16U Division: Brett Rienguette, Callum Hopkins, Chase Taylor, Evan Ouimet, Izick Vantaa, Justin Mrochek, Konner Chartier, Landen Creasey, Luka Kosza, Nathan Omeljaniuk, Owen Lamothe, Tanner Morris, Teo Landry and Trent Peters

14U Division: Adrien Cecchetto, Arielle Roy, Blake Rothwell, Cameron Roy, Colby Roque, Franky Finamore, Jett Beroll, Liam Mahoney, Liam Stephens, Matteo Spadafora, Merik Legault, Merrik Sokoloski, Nick Paquette, Olivier Seguin and Ryder Roy