Ozark’s U.S. Baseball Park got a $1.5 million makeover in February, and will host its first championship series less than six months later.

The Show-Me Collegiate Baseball League enters the postseason Wednesday and is set to crown its first ever champion this weekend.

The Show Me Collegiate League houses four teams of amateur college players in one stadium at the renamed U.S. Baseball Park. In all, about 120 players have played this summer to sharpen their skills and bolster their stock with scouts.

“Our inaugural year is about to wrap up. It has been a whirlwind, a lot of fun,” U.S. Baseball Vice President of Marketing Mark Stratton, former coach at Drury University, said.

The post-season format puts the No. 1 finished in the regular season standings against the No. 4 finisher in a one-game, winner-goes-on, loser-goes-home semifinal playoff game Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at 6:30 p.m., the No. 2 finisher meets the No. 3 finisher in the corresponding semifinal.

The two winning teams will play a best of three game series Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m., if necessary.

The winner of the series will be named the Show-Me Collegiate League’s inaugural champion.

The league attracted a mix of players from across the nation plus a few international players in its first season. A glance at the statistical leaders through 29 games shows a strong local flavor.

Cobras catcher Ethan Schlesener, a Rogersville native who went on to play at Pratt Community College in Kansas, leads the league in batting average with .356, RBI with 28, and total base hits with 36.

Ex-Glendale pitcher Jeremy Cologna logged a league-high six wins for the Stars. Cologna is committed to Avila University.

“It’s been interesting. Obviously, with only four teams in the league, you wondered how that was going to pan out,” Stratton said, explaining how each team could face the same opposition seven or eight times in a short timeframe. “There have developed a few little friendly rivalries.”

Indiana State pitcher Davie Inman of the Wild leads the league in earned run average with 1.73 and with 55 strikeouts. Inman will likely one day pitch his best innings against the Missouri State Bears in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Wild (20-8-1) are 6.5 games ahead of the second-place Stars.

“The Wild obviously got out in front,” Stratton said. “They’ve gotten out. Here in the last couple of weeks, the other times have kind of caught up a little bit and beaten up on the Wild.”

Tickets start at $5 for all Show-Me League games at U.S. Baseball Park and are available at the gate on game days.

Jeff Williams, owner of a grocery store chain in Oklahoma, purchased the former minor league baseball stadium once home to the Ozark Mountain Ducks with help from two business partners this year. They installed $1 million worth of AstroTurf and placed a $500,000 big screen in right field.

“I think the league will continue to grow. We’ve got a three-year plan to get it up and going,” Stratton said. “We’ve taken a good first step.”

The Ozark Mountain Ducks were an independent team who played in the stadium from 1999 to 2004.

Show-Me Collegiate Baseball League standings

1. Wild 20-8-1

2. Stars 13-14-1, -6.5

3. Villains 10-16-3, -9

4. Cobras 9-14-5, 8.5

Want to go?

U.S. Baseball Park

4400 N. 19th St., Ozark