Royals open 2011 American Legion season this week

The Mountain Home Royals open the 2011 American Legion baseball season this week.

Former Mountain Home Tiger and Royals player Alex Hoffman takes over as head coach of the Royals. Hoffman will be assisted by former players Brent Young and Ricky Baker.

Hoffman held tryouts last week and came up with a team of 16 players.

"A lot of them are returners, except for a select few," said the 2008 Mountain Home High School graduate, "and the select few we do have coming have coming up... all have bright futures ahead of them, as far as where they're at in class.

"The 16 kids that we do have, I definitely think is going to be a good group of kids that are sold out to the program, and look forward to winning just as much as I am."

Hitting and pitching are strengths that Hoffman sees on this year's squad.

"I think our strengths are definitely going to be in the middle half of our lineup. We have a couple guys -- Jake Hennessey and Skyler Podesek -- who had a huge year this year for us in high school, and last year on the Royals as well. They're going to be a big part of the runs we put on the board.

"We (also) have 11 guys that all have pitching experience -- some more than others -- but as far as being able to go deep in the game and being confident of having guys come to the mound, 11 is a good number, especially out of the 16 that we do have."

The Royals are a relatively young team, losing seven from a squad that went 38-10 overall last year, just missing making the Class A State Tournament.

Back from last year are the two Hoffman mentioned, Hennessey and Podesek.

Hennessey hit .457 this year for the Tigers, with 32 hits, 19 RBI, three doubles, six triples and two home runs. Last year for the Royals he hit an even .500 (32/64), with 30 RBI, eight doubles, three triples and one home run.

Podesek ended the high school season hitting .360, and led the team in RBIs with 31, doubles with eight and homers with six. He also had two triples. Last season for the Royals he hit .397 with 56 hits, 33 RBIs, 18 doubles and a home run.

The Royals opened their season Tuesday night with a non-league game against Columbia. The Mountain Home team travels to Emmett today, June 1, for a doubleheader with the Blue Devils. The first game begins at 4 p.m.

They also have a home doubleheader scheduled against Glenns Ferry at 6 p.m. Saturday.

"It'll be nice to get a good chance to see what we're working with before we head to Dillon, Mont., on June 16," said Hoffman. "Right now not very many decisions have been made as far as who will be out there. I'm confident whoever it is we do put out there to start the game off will do a good job for us and we'll get off to a good start."