Broncs look to be a wild ride this weekend

Plaza Tire will have its hands full with a home series against Wichita, Kan.

Plaza Tire Capahas manager Jess Bolen has some words of warning for his players regarding their upcoming series with the Wichita (Kan.) Broncs.

Come ready to perform at a high level, according to Bolen, or risk being run out of their own park.

That's how much respect Bolen has for the Broncs, who visit Capaha Field for a three-game series, with 7 p.m. contests Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

"I really believe they'll be one of the best teams to ever come here and play us," Bolen said. "We're going to have to play very well, probably as well as we can play, or we could very well get it handed to us."

The Broncs (23-9), like the Capahas (14-4), have made a habit of spending August at the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, and like the Capahas, they have a host of high finishes to their credit.

But while the Capahas have never quite been able to break through and win that elusive NBC World Series championship, the Broncs have captured four titles, the most recent coming in 1998.

"They're usually one of the top teams at the national tournament," Bolen said. "I'm really glad they're coming in here to play us, because I wanted our fans to get a chance to see the type of teams we play when we go to Wichita every year."

While the Capahas have made 23 consecutive NBC World Series appearances -- and have roughly won 80 percent of their games since Bolen took over as manager 39 years ago -- the Broncs have competed in the NBC World Series 19 straight times.

"We always like to face different competition and go to different places, and we're glad to be coming to Cape Girardeau," Broncs general manager J.D. Schneider said. "I've known Jess for years and he's come to Wichita and played us on several occasions. This is the first time we've had a situation over the Fourth of July where we needed some place to play, so we worked this out."

Unlike the Capahas, who feature quite a few collegiate players with some ex-collegians sprinkled in, the Broncs are strictly a collegiate team, with a host of Division I players, including four from Wichita State and four from Northwestern (La.) State. Both those programs played in NCAA regionals this year.

"We're young, with several underclassmen, but we're playing pretty good baseball right now," Schneider said. "If I had to go with our strengths, it's our offensive capabilities, and our top four or five pitchers are pretty strong, but we haven't really been a good defensive team yet."

While Bolen expects rugged competition from the Broncs -- who have featured numerous future major-leaguers over the years -- Schneider is looking for the same from the Capahas.

"Whenever we've played them in the past, it's always been really good games," Schneider said. "I don't expect anything different coming up."