Media Guide

Cheyenne Mustangs Prepare for 2011 Season Home Opener

The Cheyenne Mustangs varsity team will play its home opener this coming Tuesday, as they host the Colorado Outlaws (Denver) in a doubleheader at Pioneer Park at 5:00 and 7:00 pm.  The Mustangs head into their third season with a young squad.  In their first two seasons, the Mustangs achieved great success.  In the 2009 inaugural season, the team won the Triple Crown 18U World Series in Denver, Colorado.  It was a lofty accomplishment, particularly in the program’s first year of existence.  Although Coach Todd Hall knew that he had a talented team, winning that World Series title capped an incredible run.

In their second season in 2010, the Mustangs won the North Division of the Colorado Connie Mack League with an impressive 18-4 league record.  The Colorado Connie Mack League boasts some of the stiffest competition in the region with the likes of Denver’s Cherry Creek High School, Regis, Mullen, Grandview, Slammers Baseball, Khaos, and numerous other elite programs along the Colorado front range.

Although it looks to be a rebuilding year for the Mustangs as the team graduated most of its starters from last season, this team is off to a 6-2 start.   Seven players from the 2009 and 2010 Mustangs teams have gone on to play at the college level.  From last year’s team, catcher Drew Carlisle accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Missouri, shortstop Kyzer Hoover is playing for Seminole State College (Okla.), pitcher/first baseman Lucas Carls is playing for Dordt College (Iowa), and pitcher Kyle Harter just finished his sophomore season at New Mexico Junior College.  Harter, with his 90+ mph fastball and hard breaking slider, has returned to Cheyenne to play for the Cheyenne Grizzlies this summer.

From the 2009 team, second baseman Beau Hall went on to play for Patten University (Calif.), David Lenhardt is playing for Hartnell College (Calif.) and Tyler Stevenson is playing for Williston State College in North Dakota.  Just this past week, Stevenson helped his team win the NJCAA Region XIII Championship and earn a berth to the NJCAA Division II World Series which is taking place this week in Enid, Oklahoma.

The returning starters from last year’s team are infielder/catcher Luke Haugh, left fielder Reed Thompson, third baseman/pitcher Kyler Robinson, and pitcher Andy Vehr.  With so many new faces and underclassmen on this year’s roster, Coach Hall knows his work is cut out for him.  Given the team’s difficult league and tournament schedule, they will need to mature in a hurry.  In addition to their Connie Mack League schedule, the team is slated to play in the Cherry Creek Classic Invitational and the Playball Invitational tournaments in Denver in June.

Hall hopes his team can qualify for the Colorado Connie Mack State Tournament again this year.  In order to do that, they must finish in the top four out of 14 teams in the North Division.  The team is scheduled to conclude its season with a trip to Dallas, Texas for the Triple Crown World Series at the end of July.