Two D1 Arms Unite to Win the Ship in France with Owen Ozanich and Jeff McKenzie

Born in Annemasse, France, Owen Ozanich at a young age moved to the U.S. where he grew up in South Burlington, Vermont. Like many boys his age growing up in the U.S., he fell in love with the game of baseball. He found success early on as a little leaguer as the winning pitcher of the New England state championship game that was televised on ESPN2. In high school this trend continued as he led the South Burlington Rebels to a 20-0 record and the Vermont State Championship. In the fall of 2007 Ozanich made the University of Vermont Catamounts (NCAA D1) as walk-on and appeared in 35 games over two seasons. Upon graduating from college, he continued to play baseball in a men's league in Vermont before discovering that there is baseball in France and that he could use his dual citizen to jumpstart a career overseas. In 2011 he joined the top team in the French Elite League, the Rouen Huskies, and has been with them ever since as one of the league's top pitchers year-after-year. In 2011 McKenzie was a sophomore outfielder for a small community college in California before he was converted to pitcher for the state championship when his team was out of arms after taking the backdoor route to the championship. He went on to pitch a complete game victory in the championship and was named tournament MVP. From there McKenzie went on to a successful college career as a pitcher for Cal State Bakersfield where he won pitcher of the year both seasons he was there. In 2013, he was drafted in the 28th round by the Chicago White Sox and continued to find success that year in rookie ball as he posted a 4-0 record with an impressive 1.44 ERA in 25 innings pitched. In 2014 he bounced back and forth between rookie and A ball before being released. After being released and trying to decide what his next career move would be, McKenzie found himself questioning his passion for the game....