They're back! What to know as American Legion returns to Galesburg after 4-year hiatus.

GALESBURG — After a 4-year hiatus, Galesburg American Legion Baseball is back.

The summer baseball program which enjoyed a 62-year run before shutting down due to changes at Galesburg Post 285 and competition with travel teams and other programs has returned with new uniforms, new attitudes and a new approach.

Galesburg opened its season with a 14-7 win over Milan on Tuesday and will play Moline at Sundberg Field at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Recruiting players has been difficult

"It was much more difficult to recruit players than I thought it would be," said Jeremy Kleine, coach for the 19-and-under level team.

"My focus was on the 18-19 year olds who had been through travel ball but who wanted to play baseball.

"But there are a lot of college players and players who graduated high school who aren't going to play."

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As a result, the 2022 Post 285 team consists of 18 players that include 10 from Galesburg, 2 from Abingdon, 2 from Knoxville, 2 from Brimfield, 1 from Bushnell and another from Farmington. Four of Galesburg's players are 19 year olds.

"We've got 18 quality players and four are pitchers only," said Kleine, a former Legion and Galesburg High School player from the 1980s.

"All 14 of the others could step out on the mound if we needed them."

Galesburg returns with reduced schedule

Scheduled for 35 games - down considerably from the 50-game schedules the program played in its glory days - the demands on pitching may not be as great as it once was.

But these days, another factor sometimes comes into play that didn't exist 20-30 years ago.

"Last night (Tuesday) we were missing five players, Saturday (at Crawfordsville, Ind.) we'll be missing five players," said Kleine.

"These days the players don't put everything aside for baseball."

Also changed in the program: players are responsible for transportation to away games and aren't driven by rented vans like they once were.

With the purchase of new uniforms and equipment made necessary by the re-start, eliminating rental vans gave the team's budget a break.

But Kleine praised the efforts of Kyle Spencer and Laurie Sykes who spearheaded the Legion revival.

"They didn't like to see it dying," he said.

"They were just really fired up to get it going again. They did a great job on the fundraising side of it."

So much so, Legion players were only charged a $250 fee to participate which could be defrayed by the sale of raffle tickets.

That's only a fraction of the fee usually charged by travel ball teams.

Coach: Legion baseball doesn't compete with travel ball

But Kleine doesn't see Legion in competition with travel ball.

"It does serve its purpose," he said. "But in my opinion it's getting watered down. A lot of teams don't have elite players anymore."

But Post 285 will have many of the Galesburg-area's best.

Galesburg's main pitching load will be carried by Parker Stoneking of Abingdon, Owen Wolfe of Galesburg, James Kisler of Galesburg and Michael Seibert of Brimfield.

Others expected to see mound time will be Kyle Shaw of Galesburg, Charlie Lardi of Galesburg, Thad Morling of Galesburg, Ben Powell of Bushnell, Riley Embry of Farmington, Josh Perkins of Galesburg and Frank Kelch of Brimfield.

The catching chores will be handled by Kannon Kleine of Galesburg, Damon Reed of Galesburg, Kelch and Perkins.

Infielders include Kelch, Tristan Legate of Galesburg, Embry, Grant Aten of Galesburg, Kleine, Morling, Payton Hankins of Knoxville, David Hise of Knoxville and Micah Rodeffer of Abingdon.

Roaming the outfield will be Lardi, Shaw, Powell and Hankins.

Post 285 Roster

Parker Stoneking (Abingdon), Micah Rodeffer (Abingdon), David Hise (Knoxille), Payton Hankins (Knoxville), Thad Morling (Galesburg), Charlie Lardi (Galesburg), Kannon Kleine (Galesburg), Owen Wolfe (Galesburg), Kyle Shaw (Galesburg), Damon Reed (Galesburg),

James Kisler (Galesburg), Frank Kelch (Brimfield), Ben Powell (Bushnell-Prairie City), Grant Aten (Galesburg), Tristan Legate (Galesburg), Riley Embry (Farmington), Josh Perkins (Galesburg), Michael Seibert (Brimfield)

Coach: Jeremy Kleine. Assistants: Pat Hise, John Simkins, Kadin Spencer, Logan Sykes

Post 285 schedule

June 7 - Vs. Milan (at Sherrard), June 9 - Moline at Galesburg, 5:30 p.m., June 11 - At Crawfordsville, Ind., 1 p.m. DH, June 12 - At Moline, noon DH, June 14 - At East Moline, 5:30 p.m., June 16 - Princeton at Galesburg, 7 p.m., June 18 - East Moline at Galesburg, 1 p.m. DH, June 19 - At Lincoln, 1 p.m. DH, June 21 - At Oneida, 5:30 p.m., June 24 - At Peoria (4 games), June 28 - Milan at Galesburg, 5:30 p.m., July 1-4 - At Moline Tourney, July 7 - At Rock Island, 5:30 p.m., July 9 - Milan at Galesburg, 1 p.m. DH, July 10 - Lincoln at Galesburg, 1 p.m. DH, July 12 - Oneida at Galesburg, 5:30 p.m. DH, July 16 - Rock Island at Galesburg, 1 p.m. DH, July 18-24 - Division Tournament, July 27-30 - State Tournament at Aviston, Il.

(All home games are scheduled for Sundberg Field unless changes announced at Galesburg American Legion Baseball on Facebook)

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Galesburg American Legion baseball returns in 2022 after 4-year hiatus