Verge: Centennial, George Brown, Seneca scrap baseball programs

The Seneca Sting baseball program (Sting players in red) has been paused due to budget cuts at the school. Photo: Seneca Sting Athletics

March 31, 2025

By Melissa Verge

Canadian Baseball Network

The news blindsided AJ Rowe and his teammates on Seneca College’s baseball team.

They would not be suiting up for the 2025-26 season and taking the field for their college.

That’s because they would no longer have a team to play for.

In a move to cut budget costs, not only Seneca, but Centennial College and George Brown scrapped their baseball teams ahead of the season. That brings the number of teams in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Men’s Baseball League down from 10 to seven, and the players left with their baseball futures in the air, frustrated and disappointed.

“It hurt honestly,” said infielder AJ Rowe, of the unexpected cut of the Seneca team he’d been a part of since 2021.

“It was a really sad moment and so out of nowhere, even our coach didn’t know,” Rowe said.

His teammate Roberto Pagliero, who has also played for Seneca since 2021 and is the host of The On Deck Podcast, was just as blindsided as Rowe.

“I was quite shocked honestly, it kind of came out of nowhere,” Pagliero said.

A day before they were scheduled to practice, on January 22, they joined the Zoom meeting, unsure what it was about. They only knew that it was important.

The team was cut effective immediately.

There was no practice on January 23, and the team’s Instagram account was deactivated.

Both Pagliero and Rowe still had one year of eligibility remaining and were both planning to finish out their college careers at Seneca.

The school has stated it’s for financial reasons, but Pagliero and Rowe say there were ways they could’ve cut costs, including by playing at fields closer to home.

“We could’ve saved a decent amount of money with travel,” Pagliero said.

The move has left both of their futures with the sport uncertain. Although Pagliero will be playing summer ball with the Leaside Leafs, and is considering transferring to another school in the league, he’s not sure if playing college baseball will be a part of his life moving forward. Rowe is also considering transferring, but is unsure of what his future with the sport holds.

They’re both still processing the announcement, and their plans alongside their teammates.

It’s uncertainty shared by players from other schools that implemented the same cuts, including Centennial College. The move completely changed Riley Briggs’ future with the sport, as he was planning to return to play for Centennial College this year for his final year of eligibility.

“I was expecting to play one more year in college, but with no more program at Centennial, that’s looking less likely,” Briggs said.

“I was definitely disappointed [when I heard the news],” he said.

Centennial also cited financial reasons as an explanation for the cuts.

The resources available have shrunk with a decline in student enrolment, causing the suspension, Centennial College said in an emailed statement to the Canadian Baseball Network.

Recent government policy changes, including caps on international student permit applications, have led to the decline.

For now, Briggs says he plans to play for the Scarborough 22U Junior Team, the Stingers, and will make a more concrete decision later in the season.

“I think it may be the end for college baseball, but I’ll still leave the door open to potential possibilities,” he said.

Although Rowe, too, may find somewhere else to play and another school to transfer to, it won’t be the same for him.

The Seneca program was near and dear to him, and he would’ve fought to keep alive, if given the opportunity.

“It’s like, I love playing baseball and I love the school and all the guys,” Rowe said. “We would’ve been willing to even try to fundraise [if they’d told us beforehand.]

“We [just] wanted to play.”