The Panhandle will host three Australian traveling teams this summer in Gering and Scottsbluff. The teams, part of the World Baseball Showcases organization, will make a two-day stop in Western Nebraska, with a series of games on June 20 and 21.
Three teams will visit the Panhandle; the Australian Select team, featuring college-aged players, and two teams of 16-17 year old players. The Pioneers will play the Australian Select team both nights at Oregon Trail Park Stadium in Gering, while the two younger teams will play doubleheaders against the Gering PVC and Scottsbluff WESTCO Juniors. On June 20, Gering PVC will host the younger squad in a doubleheader at Gering’s Legion field, and on June 21, WESTCO Juniors will do the same at Cleveland Field in Scottsbluff.
“This is one of the cool things about what we do, hosting teams that get to see our part of the world and experience minor league baseball,” Pioneers owner Chuck Heeman said. “When we put our schedule together we were looking for opportunities like this, to play some teams out of the regular realm of teams we’ve been playing for years. Steve Fish and I connected a while back and it all worked out.”
Fish, the Director of World Baseball Showcases and Head Coach of the Select team, is a University of Nebraska graduate and played for the Huskers through 1997. The teams, while mostly made up of Australian players, features a multi-national roster, with additional players from Dubai, India, The Philippines, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
“We have to give credit and thanks to both our local American Legion baseball programs – without them we may not have been able to do this,” Heeman said. “Traveling with three teams, Steve didn’t want two teams to be sitting idle for so long, so the cooperation of Coach Liptac with WESTCO and Coach Gable with Gering Legion in adding these games to their own schedules was essential in making this happen, and we thank them for being a part of this.”
Tickets for the Australian Select games will go on sale on March 1, and the Pioneers-Select games are included in all Pioneers season ticket packages, which are on sale now.
The Pioneers begin their sixth season on May 23, 2023. For information on World Baseball Showcases go to www.wbsbaseball.com, and for more information on the Pioneers visit www.wnpioneers.com. Western Nebraska Pioneers Baseball Club; P.O. Box 23, Gering, NE 69341 Phone: 308-633-BALL; e-mail: media@wnpioneers.com