2010 SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW: Elverado baseball faces tough schedule

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Last spring, Elverado High School's Baseball team was young.

And, as expected, the youthful squad endure some serious growing pains at times.

With the 2010 season less than 48 hours away, the Fighting Falcons look much more experienced this time around.

Second year coach Darren Coffel welcomes the return of six starters. He's expanded the schedule even more, including a trip to Du Quoin's Pepsi/Mid-America Baseball Classic in early April.

"We are just hoping to gain a few more victories this season," Coffel said. "Last year was the first time this school has played more than 25 games during a season in the past 20 years."

Coffel's squad builds around three seniors-Kyle Kempfer, Landon Stewart and Landry Arnett.

Three sophomores-Troy Stewart, Bryce Mathis and Dalton Porter-all saw considerable varsity time as freshmen and return to the line-up.

The Fighting Falcons were 4-22 last spring and are scheduled to open the season at home with Tuesday and Wednesday's games against Crab Orchard and Webber Township.

Friday, Elverado finishes a busy first week with a home twinbill versus Shawnee (4:30) and Sciota-West Prairie (6:30) at Miners Field in the Dowell Village Park.