Menu
Griffons back in action after lost season
At a potluck dinner Wednesday evening inside the First Christian Church Community Building, local media, host families, and members of the Nevada Griffons board got their first look at the players who will sport the red, white, and blue in 2021.
Sunday night at Lyons Stadium, for the first time since 2019, fans will get their turn to meet the newest Griffons.
After the 2020 season was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nevada’s summer collegiate baseball team is back on the diamond from June to July to try and win the MINK League crown, led by a new coaching staff and a roster full of ballplayers from as close as Pittsburg State to as far away as Australia.
First-year head coach Jason Jacome, who was hired in October 2019, and assistant Brian Daly were able to conduct a couple of practices after players started to arrive in town after Memorial Day, just in time for the season opener Thursday night at Jefferson City.
Griffons board president Dan Keller said a few words about Jacome, Daly, and the rest of the behind-the-scenes staff at the meet-the-players dinner on Wednesday, before letting the players introduce themselves and their host families.
Some notable players on this year’s roster include: infielder Braeden Hinton, a Nevada High School class of 2018 graduate entering his senior season as a Gorilla; right-handed pitcher Richard Kiel, a senior at Menlo College (in Atherton, Calif.) originally from Melbourne; Will Jacobson, the team’s only left-handed pitcher and also its tallest at 6-foot-11, who is one of six players from Folsom Lake Community College; Aaron Hassell, a graduate from Graceland University who will split time as a pitcher and first-base coach; as well as the skipper’s son, Atley Jacome, a sophomore pitcher from Pima Community College who also played for the Griffons in 2019.
All 23 players will be staying with host families over the summer while the Griffons compete in their 40-plus game season — which begins with three road games before their home opener Sunday against Chillicothe.
An All-Star Game will take place July 8 in Jeff City, with the league playoffs scheduled to begin July 26. The Griffons are one of four teams in the MINK South Division along with the Joplin Outlaws, Sedalia Bombers, and Jeff City Renegades. The four teams in the North Division include the Chillicothe Mudcats, the Clarinda A’s, the Saint Joseph Mustangs, and the Des Moines Peak Prospects.