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GFI: One player, two teams and two countries

by Gerry Foster on 23 Aug 2011
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Shawn Schaefer will be coming to the GFI with the Langley Blaze; Photo, submitted
Shawn Schaefer will be coming to the GFI with the Langley Blaze; Photo, submitted
It was May 27, 2006 and history was being made south of the border in Lewiston, Idaho, site of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) World Series. The University of B.C. (UBC) Thunderbirds became the first Canadian team to play in this annual College national championship.
 
For the record UBC won that opening game and one of the players on their roster was left-handed pitcher Shawn Schaefer from Pitt Meadows, B.C. Schaefer spent a year in Texas at Midland College before joining the T-Birds as a sophomore.
 
He finished his lone season at UBC with a 12-2 record and a sparkling earned runs average of 1.93. Now fast forward to 2010; same player, same event, same location, but a different team. Shawn Schaefer was wearing the uniform of the Cumberland University Bulldogs from Lebanon, Tennessee. He was at Cumberland for two years and his senior year in 2010 was outstanding. Schaefer completed the season with a record of 14-0 which was the best in the 200 member NAIA . He was selected as a first team All-American.
 
In the College World Series he pitched a complete game gem against Oklahoma City, giving up five hits and only one run. At the end of the week this B.C.-bred athlete would celebrate a national championship with his teammates.
 
It is rare for someone to make it to the NAIA World Series with two different teams but Shawn Schaefer is unique, in that he is the only one ever to play in this annual college championship on teams from both sides of the Canada - US border.  An interesting twist to cross-border shopping, one with which most of us can feel comfortable.

This international player will return to the Grand Forks International (GFI) this year with the Langley Blaze. Earlier this summer he pitched for Team Canada in the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George. He started against the powerful Cubans and did quite well.

In a few days he will pitch for the B.C. team, the Burnaby Bulldogs, at the Canadian championships in Chatham, New Brunswick, then quickly travel to the GFI.  He told me he enjoys playing in Grand Forks and with what he has accomplished the last few years should be primed to have an outstanding tournament.