CHICAGO, Ill. -- North Park Baseball alums Bobby Bartlett (C '23) and Ethan Sund (C '21) joined NPU teammate Ranko Stevanovic (C '22) in the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) this summer. Bartlett signed a contract with the Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers, Stevanovic's current team, while Sund signed with the Westside Woolly Mammoths.
Bartlett finished his time at NPU as the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Player of the Year, helping the Vikings earn a share of the league title in 2024. He was an ABCA Fourth Team All-American, starring as a two-way player on the mound and at first base. The American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-American struck out 213 batters at NPU, good for fifth all-time. Bartlett transferred to Division I Northern Kentucky University this past 2025 season, striking out 12 batters in five appearances.
Sund was a two-time First Team All-CCIW pick (2019, 2022) and was a Second Team honoree in 2021 for North Park. In his final season with the Vikings, Sund struck out 104 batters in 78.0 innings pitched, holding opposing batters to a .213 batting average. He threw a one-hit complete-game shutout with 16 K's against ninth-ranked UT-Dallas that same 2022 season. His career ERA of 3.07 in 220 IP is 8th all-time and his 18 career wins are good for 6th in North Park history. Most notably, Sund is North Park's all-time strikeouts leader with 256. The hard-throwing righty finished his career pitching for Division I Northwestern University in 2023.
Stevanovic enters his second season under contract with the Beavers after earning a pair of All-Region nods with NPU Baseball. Stevanovic held a collegiate slash line of .350/.410/.504 with nine home runs, 42 doubles, five triples, and drove in 119 runners while scoring 89 times. Behind the plate, he threw out 35 runners attempting to steal. His 18 doubles in 2021 established a new single-season record at North Park and he also drove in 47 runners in 2022. His 42 career doubles rank third in Viking history.
The United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) is an independent baseball league in suburban Metro Detroit, Michigan, United States, started in May 2016.[1] Each team in the USPBL plays a 45-game regular season schedule from May through September, with a mid-season all-star game and a championship game at the conclusion of the regular season.[2] The games are played at Jimmy John's Field in Utica, Michigan.
Fifty-two players from the USPBL have signed contracts with Major League Baseball organizations. During the 2019 season, pitcher Randy Dobnak became the first alum to advance all the way to the Major Leagues when he was called up to the Minnesota Twins on August 8, 2019. A second USPBL alum, Logan Gillaspie, was called up to the Baltimore Orioles on May 17, 2022. A third USPBL player, Jared Koenig, made his MLB debut with the Oakland Athletics during the 2022 season.
