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Plans for a summer adult baseball league in Nebraska City appear on track.

Former Nebraska City American Legion Coach Dan Ferguson said there was good turnout for a players meeting late last year and said another is planned for February.

The February meeting, Ferguson said, would be to discuss possible sponsors and make plans to order uniforms.

Ferguson said 15 players showed up for the first organizational meeting and indicated that more could be interested in joining the team.

Ferguson said he expects Nebraska City to have between 15 and 18 players on its active roster by summer.

“Everything looks like it’s going off without a hitch,” Ferguson said.

With increasing interest, Ferguson said it’s possible that Nebraska City could have two adult teams in future years.

Nebraska City’s team would play in Class B of the Nebraska Baseball Association, which has organized leagues state wide.

Teams play a 12-game schedule with league playoffs and then prepare for the Town Team State Tournament.

Regular season games would be primarily on Sundays starting May 18.

Leagues are comprised of 4 to 8 teams and are determined by geographic location.

Teams will have approximately 5 to 6 home games.

The hope is that Nebraska City would play in a league comprised of squads from Ashland, Auburn, Plattsmouth and possibly a team comprised of players from Sidney and Hamburg.

Nebraska Baseball Association rules do not exclude out-of-state teams.

Ferguson Nebraska City is a bit further along in its organizational process than the other towns.

The Nebraska City team, which will operate under the name Riverhawks, has already secured a field on which to play games. Ferguson said he has spoken with Jeff Frields of the American Legion baseball program on an arrangement for sharing Clemmy Holmes Field with the Nebraska City American Legion Junior and Senior squads.

Ferguson said Plattsmouth organizers have run into a bit of a snag with their field. A bad experience with a past adult baseball league, Ferguson said, has Plattsmouth city officials nervous about agreeing to a field-sharing arrangement.

It would be ideal if the Ashland, Plattsmouth, Auburn and Hamburg-Sidney organizers could get their programs on track, but the possibility exists where one or all of the teams might not organize.

Ferguson said he has spoken with the players about traveling to Lincoln or Omaha for games and said that the players would be open to that possibility in the event that the other groups are unable to get programs going.

There will be two divisions for the State Tournament: Class A, towns 8,000-plus in population, and Class B, towns under 8,000 in population. There will be five regional sites and a state finals site per division. The regionals and the state final sites will be up for bid in February. Regionals are Aug. 8-10 and the state finals will be Aug. 15-17.

In terms of team composition, players for the Nebraska City squad or any other team must be at least 18 years old and have no American Legion Baseball eligibility remaining. Current Legion players can play on their town team in the state tournament once their season is finished for the year.

All players over 18 of any ability and skill level are encouraged to participate. College and former professional players may also participate.

Town teams will use current American Legion baseball guidelines regarding player recruiting. The American Legion baseball rules for 2008 can be found online at www.nelegionbaseball.net/2008ALBRules.pdf.

Additionally, towns have a 25-mile radius to recruit players.

Roster

Players who have already indicated an interest in playing on the Nebraska City team include Tyler Bebout, Jared Bennett, Jason Booth, Robin Burton, Scott Embry, Derek Ferguson, Kyle Ferguson, Shawn Hoy, Brent Johnson, Chip Johnson, Brian Lee, Kyle Lee, Lance Moyer, Jason Southard, and Frank Stidd.

Of those players, Ferguson said Embry has been particularly enthusiastic about a new opportunity to play baseball and even organized a time for the players to toss the ball around.