Trenton Program Grows As Legion Team

Trenton’s first-year high school baseball team showed a lot of growth over the course of its inaugural season. The program will continue to grow over the summer in the form of a AA American Legion team.
Trenton’s AA Blue Jays, guided by THS Head Coach Andy Hight, will open the season tonight, hosting a doubleheader on Burleigh Grimes Field. The team of 17-and-under players will have a very familiar look for Hight as most of the players are ones he saw on Trenton’s high school team this spring.
“(American Legion baseball) allows almost every guy in our program a chance to play in the summer if they want to,” Hight said. “It gives our varsity guys who have already been in our program a chance to get more (at-bats), see more pitches and just play the game. The best way to get better is to play, so this gives us an opportunity to do that. It’s our first year of doing this, but we are looking forward to it.”
Hight will also get a chance to see players who will be incoming freshmen on the high school team next season. The legion squad will allow a chance for the coach and players to get accustomed to one another before practices start next March.
“What we are trying to do with the AA program is get our young kids into the high school program before the spring,” Hight said. “They can learn how we do things and we can learn about them as players and people.”
The team held a workout day on Friday, in preparation for the season. Hight was able to work with several of the younger players on the team who have yet to see a pitch at the high school level. There were also a handful of players from this spring’s varsity season in attendance.
The team is scheduled to play around 22 games this summer, giving the players plenty of opportunities to improve before next year’s high school baseball season – year two for the Trenton program.
Game one of tonight’s season-opening doubleheader at Burleigh Grimes is scheduled for a 6 o’clock first pitch.