High school baseball season is poised to begin. The Southwest Conference is again regarded as, if not the best, certainly one of the best baseball conferences in the state. That’s primarily because of the power displayed by North Medford and Roseburg consistently over the years.

This year the Black Tornado arguably has the best pitching in the state, and the Roseburg Indians always have a deep bench of quality athletes.

This year there may be a new contender lying in wait to ambush those perennial powerhouses.

Grants Pass Caveman Coach Brian Diatte’s eyes began to dance when he was asked about this year’s edition of Caveman baseball.

Pitching powers any baseball team and leading the Caveman staff this year is senior Tyler Spencer with three years varsity experience. Spencer is expected to work a ton of innings for the Cavemen. Spencer’s fastball is already in the high 80’s and becomes more potent when mixed in with his new changeup and curve which he is throwing with more confidence all the time.

Expect Seniors Brandon Drury, Brock Dean and Matt McGill to lead five other pitchers to the mound for the Cavemen, including three sophomores.

Offensively the Cavemen expect to score lots of runs with a combination of power hitting and small ball. Drury and Dean combined for 20 homeruns last season and Tyler Spencer, who’ll likely be at third base when not pitching, has shown the potential to hit at the same level as the D & D boys.

The Cavemen return seven starters from last years squad including what Coach Diatte says may be the best shortstop and center fielder in the state. That’s Drury and Dean.

Any defensive weakness appears when either Drury or Dean are pitching. That’s where the development of the those young pitching arms become very important to the Cavemen.

At this stage of the season Coach Diatte is pleasantly surprised and optimistic about the young pitchers the Cavemen have on the roster.

He expects to surprise some opponents this year and although the coach came just short guaranteeing a championship, he was confident with the phrase “contending for a championship.”(We’re talking conference here.)

Caveman Baseball is a great one to follow this year. They’ll debut Monday afternoon in the Crater Jamboree at Crater at 1 p.m. The first game is Wednesday the 17th when the Cavemen host the Crater Comets at 4 p.m.