LEGION BASEBALL: Prairie looks to gain from experience of last season

In his first season as coach of the Prairie Cardinals “AA” American Legion baseball team, Brian Fowler finished with an 8-37 record, with a lot of newcomers on the field.

Well, those newcomers aren’t so young anymore — they’ve got 10 players back — and are looking to build on a strong finish to the 2015 season.

Returning for Prairie are Matt Lebsock, Chaz Bailey, Jared Porter and Jerrett Plunkett, all of which are planning on playing at college next year.

Plunkett, a pitcher, catcher and infielder from Timberlake High, has signed with Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake. Porter, a senior pitcher/infielder from Post Falls High, has signed with Yakima Valley Community College.

“We’re a year older and wiser,” Fowler said. “I think we’ll swing the bats a little differently than we did last year.”

At the Area A (district) tournament, Prairie took Lewis-Clark and Coeur d’Alene to the wire in their postseason games, with Lewis-Clark beating the Cardinals on a walk-off hit. The Twins finished second in the state tournament.

“I loved seeing the improvement throughout the season,” Fowler said. “I hope to see it continue this year and we continue to get better from here.”

Both Bailey and Lebsock have offers from Lassen Community College in Susanville, Calif.

“We lost a few from last year’s team that threw a lot of innings for us,” Fowler said. “But we’ve got some guys that will fill in for us nicely on the mound.”

Among the newcomers to the program, Fowler expects big things from Preston Benson, Dusty Weeks and Matt Fleming.

“Preston had a good high school season for Post Falls and will contribute immediately,” Folwer said. “Dusty, I think, will play anywhere for us. Pat is an infielder that will help us out as well.”

Prairie opened the season on Friday in a Memorial Day tournament at Post Falls High. The Cardinals will not field a Single-A team this year, but have a team playing in the Spokane under-14 league.

“These guys have gotten better during the high school season,” Fowler said. “Coeur d’Alene always has a great team, and they’re even better with those guys from Lake City that won a (high school) state title. Lewis-Clark, they’re always a great team. We’ve got it will be tough, but I like this group of guys. They’re going to compete hard each day.”

The Area A tournament, where the top two teams advance to state, will be July 21-24 at Harris Field in Lewiston.

State is July 28-31 at Timberline High in Boise.