KIT League returns to Sikeston with new look

~ The Bulls have a different owner and approach than the Bootheel Bombers had.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri will be the home to some KIT baseball again this summer.

Starting in June, the Sikeston Bulls will take over where the Bootheel Bombers left off. Besides the new name, the Bulls will have a new logo, new ownership and a new general manager.

It all adds up to a new direction.

"Everyone who comes to a Sikeston Bulls baseball game is going to have a great time," Bulls general manager Jason Compton said. "There is going to be great baseball on the field, but people are also going to remember everything else that surrounds the event that we are putting on in June and July. It is going to be great fun for the whole region."

Compton spent the last five years working with the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, a Class AA Southern League team in Jackson, Tenn.

Compton said the Bulls are going to emulate successful minor league organizations, with promotional nights and entertainment beyond the baseball field.

"If people go home wanting to come back because they had fun, then I'll know I'm doing my job," Compton said.

The KIT League this year will feature teams in Owensboro, Ky., and McKenzie, Tenn., joining last year's teams in Farmington, Mo., Fulton, Ky., Union City, Tenn., and Sikeston.

Players in the league must either be playing at some level of college baseball or have signed a letter of intent to play at the college level. The league uses only wood bats.

The Bulls will have a 50-game schedule beginning in June and ending in July. Half of the games will be played in Sikeston at the VFW Memorial Stadium.

For information on the team, visit the Bulls' Web site, www.sikestonbulls.com, or contact Compton at (573) 471-7700.