The Southern Ohio Copperheads have been a part of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League since the 2002 season and have had a very successful run in the league. Since their inception, the Copperheads have made the postseason thirteen times, making the GLSCL Championship game three times and winning it in 2018, with the team’s overall record being 410-339 in this span. The Copperheads have brought on some talented players over their existence, having close to 50 former players drafted by Major League Baseball teams. The Copperheads make their home at Bob Wren Stadium on the campus at Ohio University. The university also supplies the team’s staff. The Copperheads are student-run and gives internship opportunities for students in several different majors ranging from Sports Administration, to Journalism, and more.
In the Spring of 2002, two key figures at Ohio University in Dr. Andy Kreutzer, the Director of the Sports Administration program at the time, and Alan Geiger, Vice President of Ohio University, began to brainstorm ideas of bringing some other kind of family entertainment for summers in Athens Ohio. The year prior, Bob Wren Stadium hosted an exhibition game between the GLSCL All-Stars and Team USA, where over 1,000 fans were in attendance to watch, leading them and other high officials at Ohio University to figure out a way to bring a new baseball team to an area that would come out to support them. The plans began after all the positive feedback received after that exhibition game, where sponsors and the organizational structure began to come together throughout the rest of 2001 and into 2002. Once the addition of former Miami Redhawks assistant baseball coach Scott Googins was announced for him to become the teams first manager, the first game for the Southern Ohio Copperheads came on June 12th, 2002 and played their first game at Bob Wren Stadium three days later on June 15th.
