Digital Harbor and Patterson expected to play a game at Latrobe Park in April, but Digital Harbor was forced to forfeit because they did not have enough players. (Andrew Golden/The Banner)

Ashref Elshazli, a co-founder of The Diamond Collective in Pigtown, and Ckori Jones Jr., director of communications. A Baltimore baseball training nonprofit is using deals with a Japanese baseball company and a viral batting glove manufacturer to fuel its growth.

The company wants to focus on baseball training before expanding the facility to include nonprofits.

Business partners Ashref Elshazli and Ckori Jones have been friends since they played baseball together at Bowie State University. Today, they are managing partners of The Diamond Collective, a nonprofit baseball training cooperative in South Baltimore. Through the work of Baltimore Urban Baseball Association (BUBA) and other non-profit organizations, The Diamond Collective offers baseball training, academic support, mentorship, and leadership development. “Programs include

The Oriole Advocates Charitable Foundation’s ‘Cardboard to Leather’ program will relocate its operations to The Diamond Collective at 1205 S. Carey St. in Pigtown. The Diamond Collective is an indoor baseball facility and home to several baseball nonprofits. The Cardboard to Leather program focuses on collecting and redistributing baseball and softball equipment to youth players and programs in need throughout the Baltimore area and around the world. The Cardboard to Leather