MILTON-FREEWATER – The Milton-Freewater American Legion Twins will play on the same field as the one-time No. 1-ranked Mac-Hi baseball team played on, but not all of the players who made history this season will be on the team.

Wes Walker, Ferman Garcia, Miguel Ruvalcaba, Robby Stallings, Saul Gonzalez, Jeff Stallings, Jacob Hayes and Levi Geissel will return to play for the Twins, but standout seniors Carlos Ruvalcaba and Curtis Carlson have other obligations.

Ruvalcaba will be playing for an American Legion AAA team in Walla Walla. Carlson will also be in Walla Walla, working out with the Walla Walla Community College basketball team.

“I still like our team, even without those guys,” Twins coach Chris Meliah said. “We have to develop a couple more pitchers, but we have some kids that are going to work at it.”

There will be only two seniors on the team in Robby Stallings and Jeff Duke from Weston-McEwen, one of three players from Athena. Of the 14 players on the team, seven are underclassmen.

“I would put them with the team two years ago, when Carlos (Ruvalcaba) was a sophomore,” Meliah said. “We were young, real young, but you could tell there was some talent there.”

Milton-Freewater opens its season today in the Outlaw Tournament held in Pendleton, and the Twins will host a tournament of their own June 17-19.

All but three of the team members are from Milton-Freewater, so Meliah is viewing this summer as an opportunity to ensure the future of Mac-Hi baseball.

“That’s how we’re viewing it,” Meliah said. “We don’t want to let it be a one-year thing.”