By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
The Junction City Brigade will be moving to the Kansas Collegiate League for the 2025 baseball season. Team officials made the decision to make the move after Junction City won eight of the 11 championships in the history of the Mid Plains League.
Brigade Vice-President Joel Poole said the change "is a big deal for us." He described it as a different level of baseball, There will be Division I players on the teams. They will bring in talented players and a different set of patrons.
Brigade General Manager Cecil Aska said in addition to Junction City the other teams in the league will include the Kansas Cannons, Newton Rebels, Kansas City Monarchs and teams that play in Great Bend, Haysville, Kingman, Derby, and Rose Hill ( Wichita ). Junction City also plans to line up some nonconference games.
There will not be any league tournament but the top three teams in the final conference standings will earn bids to the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita.
Coaching Staff
Micah Cannon will be the new Brigade head coach. He is a graduate assistant at Emporia State. Nicholas George and Tyler Ross will be the assistant coaches. All of the position players have been recruited for the team and approximately five to six pitchers have also committed to Junction City. More will be recruited.
Rathert Field Improvements
Cecil Aska confirmed there are plans for a new outfield fence at Rathert Field, a new scoreboard and a small deck in the beer garden
Brigade News
The hard dollar impact of the Brigade in 2024 totaled $24, 348. Visitors spent an average of $70 per day in the community.
Road trips will often be longer for the team and the possible purchase or leasing of vans is under consideration.
There may be some live streaming of games.
The 2025 schedule is expected to be out in the next couple of weeks.