The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team have been outside a lot last week in preparation for this weekend's season opener when the Cougars head to New Mexico to face New Mexico Military Institute in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.
WNCC head coach Mike Jones, who begins his 24th year as head coach, said the team is excited to be beginning the season this weekend down in New Mexico.
"We are going to be able to make the trip and it will be organized and we will be ready to play," he said. "Will we be at our best and at 100 percent; probably not. But we will be ready to play."
New Mexico Military Institute opened the season this past weekend against another Region IX opponent, Northeastern Junior College, and went 3-1. New Mexico Military won 15-2, 12-6 and 6-5 before falling in the series final game 16-3 on Sunday.
Jones said NMMI is a team that will be well-coached and have strong pitching.
"What I know is they are well organized and they always have a very strong offense," he said. "Pitching-wise, it is a lot of three-pitch mix guys. They will have a combination of velocity guys and some other guys with secondary pitches that will come at us. So, we will get a variation of a lot of different things."
This year's team will be different from last year's team that went 30-30 with plenty of sophomores on the team with experience. This year's team will be young in experience.
"Experience," Jones said about this year and last year. "When you look at all the experience we had returning last year and then you look at this year with last year's freshmen that will be out there this year, we will definitely lack a lot of college experience. We are talented and we play with a lot of energy and competitive attitude which is good. We are just really young right now."
Jones said the pitching should be a bright spot with plenty of arms that saw action last year or two years ago. Leading the way is Clayden Brandon, who played two years ago before red-shirting a year ago because of an injury. Brandon, from West Herriman, Utah, had 11 appearances on the mound in 2023 with 27 strike outs while going 3-3 on the hill.
Also to keep a watch out are returners Rocco Harmon from Ft. Collins, Colorado Julian Garza from Aurora, Colorado, and Zane Hendrickx from Antwerp, Belgium.
"Clayton Brandon on the mound will be extremely important for us along with Rocco Hammon. Those two guys will be big for us on the mound, and I think they had a really good fall," Jones said. "Julien Garza and Zane Hendrickx are other returners who will have a chance to get a lot of innings on the mound. Pitching-wise we have some experience and those four guys we will be counted on."
Offensively will feature guys that hasn't seen a lot of at bats a year ago. The two that saw plenty of at bats a year ago are Kensei Oikawa of Miyagi, Japan, and Calab Caciari of Evans, Colorado. Those two will be counted on this year.
As for newcomers, there are plenty of guys to watch. Jones said the Wilson brothers from Riverton, Utah, will be key on the infield.
"Both of the Wilson brothers, Cooper Wilson and Vaughn Wilson, are guys to be paying attention too," Jones said. "Jin Kobayakawa will be a catcher and Jase Satterfield will be a catcher and play a lot for us. The outfield will be a whole mix of guys. Austin Cooper has a chance to see a lot of innings for us."
The catchers Jin Kobayakawa of Kanagawa, Japan, and Jase Satterfield of Grand Junction, Colorado, will be young in talent. Kobayakawa was here in the summer playing for the Western Nebraska Pioneers, while Satterfield red-shirted a year ago. Austin Cooper is an outfielder from Bozeman, Montana, who should anchor the outfield.
Another player that transferred to WNCC after playing in the summer for the Pioneers is Cooper Burgess of Spring Ranch, Texas.
The Cougars have several players that played a year ago or red-shirted for the Cougars. The other returners besides the ones already mentioned include Landon Lockwood of Great Falls, Montana; Tucker Deal of Arvada, Colorado; Cameryn Spence of Douglas, Wyoming; Matt Levesque of Gatineau, Quebec; Catcher Gladysh of Brighton, Colorado; Cameron Meyer of Scottsbluff; and Kyler Adams of Erie, Colorado.
Also a sophomore transfer is Alex Renfrow of Houston, Texas.
The Wilson brothers are from Riverton, Utah, and Vaughn is a sophomore transfer while his brother, Cooper, will be a freshman.
The freshman on the team starts with Scottsbluff's Carter Reisig, who played last summer with the WESTCO Zephyr organization.
The other freshmen on the team includes Ian Grafmank of Las Vegas, Nevada; Matt Hazzard of Cedar City, Utah; Marshall Forsyth of Houston, Texas; Will Harbison of Parker, Colorado Austin Neeley of Severance, Colorado; Allard Helms of Utrecht, The Netherlands; Ren Soto of Japan, and Garrison Burns of Kearney.
Jones said where their isn't a lot of playing experience from last year's team, this team will be deep in depth with players that can play any place.
"We should be fairly deep on defense," he said. "but we lack some experience offensively."
After this weekend's season opening games in New Mexico, the Cougars will be on the road February 15-16 when they travel to Barton Community College. They will then begin 11 straight days at home from February 19 through March 6. The first home game is slated for February 19 when they host Northeastern Junior College followed by games with Miles Community College, Dawson Community College, and Northeast Community College.
Jones said if the weather holds out, it will be nice to play at home with all the improvements that have been made to Cleveland Field. One improvement is a new outfield fence with the hold wooden fence being retired.
"We will see how the weather works out," Jones said. "If the weather works out it will be nice to get those games in at home early in the season. We have a beautiful facility. The upgrades to Cleveland field have been outstanding and I can't thank the City of Scottsbluff because it has been super impressive to see the upgrades to Cleveland Field."