Pioneer League Baseball Making Its Way to the Flathead Valley

KALISPELL — Starting in 2022, the Flathead Valley will have a Pioneer League baseball team and tickets are already being sold for this season's home games.

"We are accepting the season ticket deposits right now you can get those at Ridgerunbaseball.com and look for our team name, launch branding and logo in a week on (Jan. 19) at 10 a.m. That will come across social media and all the media outlets," general manager Erik Moore said.

In addition to the arrival of a new logo, the organization has also found a new clubhouse leader, Nick Hogan. Hogan coached four years at Georgia State as well as coaching at the high school level, but this is his first professional league team. And although his level is changing, his goal is not.

"I think the players will be better. I think that the players are here for a an overall same goal of trying to make it to the next level. And then we're here to develop them and help them grow as men and grow as players," Hogan said.

Now that the team has found its dugout manager and general manager, they can start checking off all their other boxes before opening day this June.

"Coach Hogan is working on a pitching coach starting, we filled out nine players on a roster so far, and we have invites out for a spring training camp as well," said Moore.

But filling out that roster isn’t just about talent. Moore says strength of character is the number one quality the organization is looking for.

"We're looking for a hard working team, teamwork type of guys. You know how to how to blend in this community how to fit in, how to understand how this community operates, what the priorities are, we're a pretty tight knit community," explained Moore.

And they want the community involved as well, not just rooting for the team but being a part of it.

"Well, obviously, we got jobs going on right now. We're gonna have to staff a stadium. We are going to be doing events year around, as soon as we get the baseball rolling, we'll have a core staff of people out here for sure," Moore said.