By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
With the high school baseball season officially underway, an all-area showdown is brewing as Salina South (2-0) prepares to host Abilene (0-0) at Dean Evans Stadium this Friday.
This will be the first meeting in recent memory between the two schools and should provide an excellent opportunity for each to find their footing against strong competition early in the year.
The Cougars already got off to a roaring start on Monday, taking down a larger foe in Junction City (6A) in a doubleheader sweep, earning wins of 7-2 and 18-3.
For the Cowboys, these will be the first official games of the 2024 campaign, but a jamboree and a ton of returning experience should ensure that Abilene is ready to roll when the first pitch is delivered tonight.
This game will also serve as a battle of four future college teammates, as Abilene’s Stocton Timbrook and Zach Miller, and South’s Kaden Budke and Brady Howard have all committed to play baseball at Cloud Community College next season.
Despite being the larger of the two schools, South doesn’t view themselves as favorites in this doubleheader, and is eager to square off with a Cowboy team that has made the 4A state tournament in each of the last two seasons.
The Cowboys also view this as an excellent opportunity to face a larger team in the Kansas baseball landscape, and have actively sought out opponents like Salina South and Rock Creek early in the season to prepare themselves for postseason play.
While both teams return a slew of veterans to fill their lineups, several on South’s side of the matchup are still getting to grips with the varsity field, as the Cougars graduated a large senior class that included six members of last year’s lineup.
On the other side of this battle, Abilene saw just one senior graduate last spring, and will be eager to run it back and take the next step as they begin their quest for a third-straight 4A state tournament berth.
All of this should lead to an entertaining set of games beginning at 4:00 this Friday, and both games can be seen and heard on the Salina Post with a full live broadcast on our Salina Regional Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Game of the Week.