Royals ready to open season

The Mountain Home Royals open the 2007 American Legion Class A baseball schedule playing 12 games in eight days, the first 10 of them on the road, but Royals head coach Mark Cotton believes the busy schedule will give them an opportunity to play everyone.

"I think these guys are ready. They kind of played all year throughout high school and throughout practice, and I think they're ready to get the show on the road! Yes, it's going to be busy, and a lot of guys are going to get some pitching in, and we're looking forward to it!"

The Royals are without Michael DesPres, Bret Young and Aaron Swartz, who helped lead the Royals to a 38-7 overall record and district and state titles on the way to a trip to the Northwest Regional in Sheridan, Wyo., last year. Those three are moving up to play AA ball for the Boise Gems, but Coach Cotton likes the 16 players that make up this year's Royals team.

"We've got a deep pitching staff. We've got Chris Rau and Jake Hiler, and John Murdorf came on strong in the varsity season, and we've got guys from the JV team that really did well, like Eric Christiansen and Gabe Anderson, and we have David Zito coming from Glenns Ferry, and he was their ace over there, so I think pitching is definitely our strong point,

"For the first two practices of the season, we're looking really good, so we're pretty confident, and I hope we can get off to a good start like we did last year."

The Royals opened yesterday with a doubleheader at Kuna. They are at Bishop Kelly to face the Barons for a single game at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon. They face the Boise Gems at Timberline for a 6 p.m. single game on Friday, go to Nampa's Rodeo Park for two against the Nampa Braves Saturday starting at 5 p.m., go to Columbia High School in Nampa to face the Nampa Indians for two on Monday, June 11, and play their first home games of the season next Tuesday, June 12, when they host the Buhl Tribe for two, starting at 4 p.m. They then go to the Nampa Wood Bat Tournament June 14-17.