JACKSON FORMS SR. LEGION TEAM; CHAFFEE EXPECTS STRONG SEASON

JACKSON -- Tom Campbell says he and his players couldn't be more excited to field Jackson's first American Legion baseball team in a number of years.

"It's been a long time since Jackson had a team," said Campbell, the squad's coach. "I couldn't tell you how many years. Somebody said it was 25, 26 years ago. I don't know if that's exact or not, but I know it's been a while.

"We had a Junior Legion team last year to kind of ease our way into it. The boys we had last year did a good job so it was just a natural for us to have a Senior team this year. We're all real excited about it."

Jackson, which opens the season Sunday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Festus (the first home action will be Wednesday night against Perryville), should field a competitive squad in its inaugural season, according to Campbell.

"I think we'll be pretty solid," he said. "But Legion ball will be really competitive. It's really a good quality of baseball."

Campbell's squad will primarily feature players from Jackson High's team, with a few from other high schools mixed in.

Off Jackson High's squad from this spring are Chris Leimer, Josh Adams, Travis Stevens, Justin Gladish, Zane McClard, Jared Suedekum, Burt Hahs, Avery Kohm and Chris Schlick.

Other players from Jackson on the team are Justin McCullough, a 1996 Jackson High graduate; and Tom Walter and Michael Harrison, who attended the high school this year but were not on the team.

Rounding out the squad are Greg Lincoln and Jason Banderman of Woodland and Mike McCall of Oak Ridge.

Leimer, Adams, McCall and Lincoln figure to head up the pitching staff.

Chaffee eyes strong season

CHAFFEE -- Chaffee American Legion coach Bruce Qualls is looking for big things from his team this summer.

"I think we could be pretty strong," said Qualls. "We're looking for big things."

Chaffee, 21-27 in 1996, will open the '97 campaign today in its own eight-team tournament, facing DeSoto at 4 p.m.

Seven players return from last year, including two who already have a season of college baseball under their belt in former Chaffee High standout Tommy Burnett (Dyersburg State) and ex-Oak Ridge High star Matt Schonhoff (Southwest Baptist).

Also back are Scott City's Jeremy Enderle and Jason Landis; Kelly's Justin Vetter; Delta's Kenny Gaebler and Advance's Chance White.

Newcomers to the squad will be Scott City's Keith Anderson, Justin Braun and Tim Lowery; Chaffee's Jason Harrell, Josh Hanlon and Jeremy Chapman; Kelly's Denver Stuckey and Ben Klipfel; Advance's Matt Welch; and Delta's Justin Vandeven.

Schonhoff and Vetter -- two of the team's top hurlers last year -- along with Landis, Lowery and Stuckey figure to head up the pitching staff.

"They're all pretty decent," said Qualls. "We have 11 kids that can be considered pitchers, which is real nice."

Other first-round games today in the Chaffee Tournament will feature Sikeston vs. Farmington at 4 p.m. (at Sikeston), Eureka vs. Blytheville, Ark., at 6:15 p.m. (at Chaffee) and Cape Girardeau vs. Perryville at 6:15 p.m. (at Sikeston). Semifinals will be played tonight at 8:30, at both Chaffee and Sikeston.

There will be six games Saturday (all at Chaffee), with the winner's bracket final at 6 p.m. The finals are set for 2:45 p.m. Sunday at Chaffee.