Reardan to visit Friday to open league baseball

A new season for Colfax baseball is scheduled to get underway Friday when the Reardan Indians come to town for the season opener starting at 2 p.m. Reardan will be the first of 10 league foes booked on the NE baseball trail this year for coach Mike Parrish and the Colfax crew.

Colfax enters the new year after last year's run all the way to the state 2B title game where they were stopped by Adna 2-4. That wrapped up a 22-2 run on the season which started with a sweep of the NE game.

Colfax ran the win string all the way to the second round of the NE-SE playoffs when the string was dented by DeSales, one of the SE entrants.

Colfax went on to emerge out of the regional round for the final four championship round and topped Toledo in the semi to face Adna in the final game.

The Bulldogs have five of the starters back from last year's team. Included in the ranks is most of the pitching power from last season.

Grads of last year's team included Mark Webber, second base; Garret Burke, shortstop/pitcher and league MVP; Andrew Becker, outfield, and Jeff Davies, designated hitter and third baseman.

Parrish, who is starting his 20th season as Colfax head coach, will have Danny Robinson and Keith Gfeller back as pitchers, Cal Gregory as catcher and Dustyn Hall, pitcher and first baseman.

Lyman, Gfeller and Hall are seniors; Robinson is a junior, and Gregory is a sophomore.

Among players who can be expected to move up to the varsity are Logan Gingerich, Hunter Mosboar and Kyle Appel, all juniors; and Parker Huber, a sophomore.

Gingerich could move into the second base slot which was vacated by Webber, and Huber could be part of the pitching lineup and play shortstop.

Parrish noted a big part of launching for the new season will be finding new outfielders. Gfeller will return to centerfield, but when he is working on the mound, the Bulldogs will have an all new outfield lineup.

Assistant coaches this year will be Scott Parrish, Wayne Gregory and Jose Roberts.

Tony Lewis will again coach the Bulldog jayvees.

Coach Parrish this week has been working on draining out the McDonald Park turf which he expects to have ready for the Friday opener with Reardan. The early March onslaught of rain is expected to cease at mid week, and the field will have the back end of the week to dry out.

After Friday's double, the Bulldogs are booked to travel next Wednesday to play Northwest Christian which figures to be one of the tough teams in the league.

Coach Parrish noted this year will be the last season for the all-league format with the ranks expected to divide next year when Asotin joins the NE league lineup. The Panthers are expected to bring a lot of baseball talent to the lineup and will be a foe on the south side of the league.

Oakesdale freshmen, Evan Henning and Kieron Anderson, are among the ranks for Colfax baseball players. They have opted to play at Colfax because Oakesdale does not offer baseball.