‘A GOOD CHALLENGE’

Excelsior Springs will be given “a good challenge” next season in varsity baseball, interim coach Cody Vaughn predicted June 22.

As The Standard has reported, Excelsior Springs joins the Midland Empire Conference (MEC) this school year after a stint in the Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference-Blue Division.

“Going to the MEC will be a good move, I think,” Vaughn said after Excelsior Springs’ end-of-season baseball banquet. “And I think we’ll compete, and I think we should be upper tier in that division.”

As Vaughn pointed out, the Excelsior Springs baseballers are already familiar with some of their MEC opponents. Indeed, the Tigers played three MEC schools this spring en route to their Class 4 state title. They played one of those schools, Benton of St. Joseph, three times – twice during the regular season and once during the postseason.

The Tigers swept a late-March doubleheader with Benton. They then downed the Cardinals in late May in the Class 4 sectionals.

Savanna…