Horsemen ready for season

Baseball is right around the corner and the Plains High School coach Rick Powers is scrambling to get his team ready for their first game of the season a little over a week from the first day.

The Plains Horsemen began practice last Monday inside the main gymnasium, but the next day they started outside, despite colder temperatures and occasional flurries. High school baseball in Montana started only last year, when the Horsemen had six wins, six losses and one tie, but Powers, in his second year as head coach, is looking forward to the season and hopes to have a better record this year, even though it's a young team with three eighth-graders on the team and three seniors - Will Tatum, John Thurston, and Aiden West.

Powers said he hopes to have at least 13 players and has until March 20 to take on any new players. The school had a co-op team with Hot Springs last year, but Powers said they have no players from Hot Springs this year.

There are three players that have never played baseball, including foreign exchange student Pablo Hernandez, a junior from Spain. "It's something I've wanted to try; we don't have baseball in my country," said the 16-year-old Hernandez, whose first swing of a bat was in the gymnasium at a ball on a T-stand. Powers said he's coming along very well. The coach hasn't selected pitchers or catchers yet, but right-hander Tatum is in the running and is one that Powers said he is counting on.

The team practices five days a week from 4:30-6 p.m. Presently, they are working on basic fielding skills and batting. Powers is assisted this year by Jeff Burrows, pastor of the Harvest Community Church in Plains. Burrows, whose stepson, Wyatt Butcher, is on the team, has coached youth baseball from T-ball through the majors. He hadn't coached in a few years, but said it seemed like a great opportunity to get back into baseball with his stepson and finish their baseball careers together.

"I am super excited about high school baseball and the opportunity it provides our boys to continue their baseball careers," said Burrows, who added that the kids were getting a lot of the basics in their first few days. "We want to promote healthy muscles, mechanics, and minds in the boys to set them up for success as we progress through our preseason," said Burrows. "The boys are doing great," he said. "We had a very solid practice yesterday out on the field, the rust is falling off and we are starting to shine again."

Powers is also no stranger to coaching the American pastime with more than 26 years under his belt, including experience in Parkton, Maryland, where he grew up before moving to Plains six years ago. He also played baseball at Essex Community College in Maryland.

Powers said the schedule might change, but presently the first three games of the season will take place at home. The first game will be Friday, March 15, at 3 p.m. against Bigfork at Plains. The Horsemen are scheduled to play a double-header at home on Tuesday, March 19, starting at 2 p.m. against the Eureka Lions, followed by a face off against the Frenchtown Broncs on Thursday, March 21, at 4 p.m. The Horsemen have 16 scheduled games, including eight at home.

Plains is one of six teams in the West Division and one of two in Sanders County, said Scott Wilson of the Montana High School Association. Noxon is co-oping with Thompson Falls this year. The Noxon-Thompson team takes on Plains at Noxon on Tuesday, April 2, at 3 p.m. There are 25 schools in Montana with high school baseball teams.