There is a new team coming to Albert Lea in the summer of 2017.

The Albert Lea Lakers are the newly created summer collegiate baseball team that will come to town. It had been in the works for about a year and a half, and it finally came to fruition.

The newly-created Lakers will play in the Pioneer League, a league made up of five teams from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Bancroft, Storm Lake and Carroll, Iowa.

The team will be made up of current collegiate players from around the country.

Players report to camp the day after Memorial Day and the season starts later that week.

The schedule will run 36 games and playoffs, with the top seed hosting.

While the level of play on the field will be high, Donnie Roberts, who helped bring the team to Albert Lea, said fan experience is one of the club’s top priorities.

“We want the fans to come out and have fun, and also watch some good baseball at the same time,” Roberts said. “We are very excited to get this done, but now the real work is just starting.”

The Lakers will be managed by J.D. Jackson, who is the pitching coach at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois.

Roberts said Albert Lea was the perfect market to have a team, which is one of the main reasons why it was chosen.

“Albert Lea is a great city with a great quality of life,” Roberts siad. “There is a lot of opportunity here and it has that ‘town feel’ that the rest of our teams have. Some of our other towns have hit their peak for growth. In Albert Lea, there is plenty of room for it, and that’s exciting.”