By my count, it will be approximately 670 days since the Hornets last stepped on the grass to play a competitive baseball game for Northtown. You'll find no club more excited to get their season started. This weekend, the Hornet baseballers will head to Columbia, Missouri to start their season with a double-dip. Northtown returns five seniors and a whole slew of Juniors from what would have been their 2020 squad - if the 2020 season had happened. The 2019 team made it to the second round of District play and finished second in their conference. With a full year break, it is tough to handicap anybody until the leather starts to fly.

Game 1 will feature the Hornets taking on the host team, Hickman. The Kewpies are a perennial powerhouse in Missouri Class 5. They were 2018 Class 5 State finalists and hang two state title banners. Hickman also has a long history of players who go on to play in college at a high level. Currently, Cameron Chick, a 2018 graduate is heating up the turf at Nebraska and Trae Robertson, also from 2018, is logging innings as a left handed pitcher at Mizzou. From the current squad, keep an eye out for RHP Jackson Forck, who is already committed to Southeast Missouri State as a junior. Game 1's first pitch will be at 10 am with coverage here on nkchornets.org. A live stream is expected to be up on YouTube and we will link that here.

Game 2 will continue the opening challenge for the purple and gold as they face off against Willard. The Tigers, out of the Lake of the Ozarks area, bring a team that was expected to make a deep run in the 2020 state title hopes. the 2021 squad still features a number of ones to watch out for including senior second baseman Grande Merryman, committed to St. Louis Community College along with seniors Blake Hugren (SS) and Dalen Stewart (LHP) who are also committed to play beyond high school.

Your Hornets are still building out what will be their starting lineup, but you can bet you'll see junior Diamonds Cooper patrolling the outfield, senior Brett Kamler scooping up balls at first and junior Kevin Pelico providing the catching duties all season.

We will have full coverage of this weekend's season opener from Columbia starting at 10 am. Hickman is providing a live stream of the event which you can watch on their YouTube channel. Linked HERE.