The O'Fallon Hoots are a collegiate summer league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Prospect League The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their colleg ...

. The team played the 2018 and 2019 seasons as the Hannibal Hoots, but only one of those seasons saw them use

Hannibal, Missouri Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Mario ...

as their home; flooding of their stadium led the Hoots to play their 2019 home schedule in nearby

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

at the home stadium of the

Quincy Gems The Quincy Gems are a collegiate summer league baseball team located in Quincy, Illinois. The Gems were originally a part of the Central Illinois Collegiate League and joined the Prospect League with several other CICL teams prior to the 2009 s ...

. The Hoots formed in late 2017 and were an expansion franchise for the 2018 season. The Hoots and other collegiate summer leagues and teams exist to give top college players professional-like experience without affecting

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

eligibility. Rick DeStefane is the sole owner of the Hoots. The Hoots currently play in the Prospect League's Western Conference in the Prairie Land Division along with the

Alton River Dragons The Alton River Dragons are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Alton, Illinois. They were founded in 2020 and began play in 2021 as members of the Prospect League. History On January 29, 2020, the Prospect League of collegiate summer ba ...

Cape Catfish The Cape Catfish are a franchise of the Prospect League that plays in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Catfish play in the Prospect League's Western conference in the Prairie Land division, along with the Alton River Dragons, O'Fallon Hoots, and S ...

, and

Springfield Lucky Horseshoes The Springfield Lucky Horseshoes are a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer league baseball team of the Prospect League. They play at Robin Roberts Stadium at Lanphier Park and are based in the city of Springfield, IL, Springfield, Illino ...

. On September 26, 2019, The

announced that the franchise would relocate from Hannibal to O'Fallon beginning with the 2020 season, playing their home games at

CarShield Field CarShield Field, formerly T.R. Hughes Ballpark, is a stadium in O'Fallon, Missouri. It is primarily used for baseball, and was the home field of the River City Rascals Frontier League baseball team, until the team ceased operations at the end of ...

History

Hannibal's previous team in the Prospect League, the

Hannibal Cavemen The Hannibal Cavemen were a collegiate summer league baseball team located in Hannibal, Missouri, in the United States. They were a member of the West Division of the summer collegiate Prospect League from 2009–2016. The franchise began play ...

, suspended operations after the 2016 season, leaving the city without a team for the 2017 season. The league awarded a new franchise to Rick DeStefane, with the goal of returning to the field for the 2018 season. For the 2020 season, the Prospect League ceased play due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. However, the O'Fallon Hoots played host to a six-team league at CarShield Field, with each team playing 30 game seasons. The CarShield Collegiate League began play on July 1, 2020, with a schedule of 7 inning games.

Stadium

The Hoots play at

Seasons

Roster

References

External links

OFallonHoots.com
Amateur baseball teams in Missouri Prospect League teams Baseball teams established in 2017 2017 establishments in Missouri {{Missouri-baseball-team-stub