The spring high school baseball season saw plenty of success for teams from Douglas County and many around the Roseburg Clint Newell Dr. Stewart’s American Legion baseball program are hoping that success will carry over into the summer.

“I’m looking to repeat what we did in the spring and I think we’ve got the guys to do it,” said Kade Johnson, a senior graduate on the South Umpqua baseball team that won the Class 3A state championship 10-2 over Santiam Christian last Friday.

“(We’ve got) a lot of experience with postseason baseball,” said Dominic Tatone, a recent graduate of Roseburg High School, which reached the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs this spring. “I’m super excited for the teams that got (to the title game) … That’s huge for our team and the county. Winning baseball games is contagious.”

Head coach Jeremiah Robbins sure hopes it will be, as there hasn’t been a lot of time to get the Docs ready for the start of the season.

With both South Umpqua and Umpqua Valley Christian playing into their respective state championship games, Robbins and the coaching staff for three other summer programs had to extend tryouts through Monday.

That left just two days for the Docs to get things like a roster and jerseys organized for the season opener on Thursday at home against the Medford Mustangs. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

“Any time we have to extend tryouts, that’s a good thing,” Robbins said. “That means our county is still playing and our high schools are still in it.

The sixth-year head coach says “that championship pedigree is great, that’s something we need as we go through this. There’s a reason why they (S.U.) were state champions, they got really good baseball players and the best part is they’ve got really good coaches. So you know you’re going to get those kids in and they’re going to listen and they’re going to work hard.”

The 2022 version of the Dr. Stewart’s will feature 10 players with at least one year of previous experience at the AAA level of American Legion baseball.

Johnson and Ever Lamm will lead the team in experience as they prepare for their third season on the team.

The ex-South Umpqua standouts still recall what it was like to be the new guy on the roster and will look to make an impact on the seven rookies making their Docs debut.

“Build the younger guys up and give them the confidence to be able to perform to their highest,” is what Johnson hopes to do with the newcomers. “I know when I was younger there were a couple of guys that gave me confidence.”

“We’ve just got to make sure we’re clicking as teammates, always picking each other up, but I don’t think we’ll have any problem doing that,” Lamm said.

The Docs went 30-17 overall in 2021 and finished third in the Area 4 standings with a 9-7 record. Roseburg received an automatic berth in the AAA state tournament as the host team and reached the fourth day of the tournament before ending the season with a 6-5 loss to Medford in 12 innings.

The Docs lose the services of aces Jace Stoffal and Austin Anderson this summer, as both have aged out of the system, but other top arms return.

“On the mound we have some competitors. Obviously, losing Jace and Austin from last year’s club is a couple of huge losses there, but I think we’ll be a more well rounded staff,” Robbins said.

“We kind of had the two horses right out of the chute and then guys were kind of feeling their way through it. But now those guys have got a full high school season under their belt. To have a staff that goes out there and competes day in and day out, I think that will be great.”

Tatone and RHS teammate Evan Corbin finished second and third on the Docs last season in innings pitched, while Lamm made five starts. Blake Withers, the lone player returning after one year of college, will help fill out the bullpen along with other returners Austin Takahashi and Kade Johnson.

“I’m just hoping to pitch as much as I can. I was working through fall ball and I’m ready,” said Withers, who redshirted this spring with the Umpqua Riverhawks.

Offensively, the Docs’ top returning hitter will be Takahashi, who finished batting .313, with 10 extra base hits and 21 RBI. Tatone finished with 24 runs batted in and Sebastian Watson, a returning infielder from RHS, had a .294 batting average.

Overall, look for the Docs to be racing down the baseline and covering ground in the field. “I think we’re going to have some team speed,” Robbins said.

Roseburg will once again be hosting the AAA state tournament at Bill Gray Legion Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field. Robbins hopes a difficult schedule will prepare the Docs for the challenges of winning in the postseason.

“It’s one of the tougher schedules I’ve put together since I’ve been here,” Robbins explained. He added that the trials of Area 4 play will help prepare the team. “It’s going to be a dogfight.”

The Area 4 league will look a little different this summer. Grants Pass is not fielding a AAA Legion team and the Springfield program combined with Eugene to form the Emerald Challengers. That leaves a four-team league with Roseburg, Medford, Eugene and Klamath Falls.

Roseburg won’t have its first league games until July 6. The Docs will play in three tournaments prior to league play. The first is a Father’s Day Tournament hosted by the Docs (June 16-19), then the Coach K Invitational in Medford (June 23-26) and the Papa’s Pizza Tournament in Eugene (Jun3 29-July 3).