Baseball Opens Season on Thursday

*All three games will be played at Battle High School in Columbia, Mo.*

Notes:

• Columbia hosts York (Neb.) for their season and home opener. 
• The two teams met in Columbia last year with the Cougars winning two of the three games. 
• Each team has won three games in the history of the series. 
• The Panthers are currently 0-2 this season, losing both games to Bellevue (Neb.) (11-10 and 22-1). 
  • Five different players hit a home run for York – Tony Riley, Jesus Licon, Daniel Polo, Charlie Konstantino, and Ian Heck. 
  • Riley leads the team with four RBIs. 

Season Notes:

• The Cougars were picked second with 44 points in the American Midwest Conference (AMC) standings by the league coaches. 
  • Missouri Baptist edged out Columbia for the top spot with 45 points, while Lyon (36), Central Baptist (31) and William Woods (28) rounded out the top five. (Complete Standings)
• Columbia has four games on the schedule against NAIA Preseason Top-25 teams – (2) Central Methodist (two games) and (22) MidAmerica Nazarene (2 games)
• Central Methodist advanced to the NAIA World Series last season, while MidAmerica Nazarene made the NAIA Opening Round. 
• The AMC portion of the schedule begins on March 19 against Lyon