BARNESVILLE — For the first time in quite some time Barnesville will field a pair of summer baseball teams — a junior squad and a senior unit.

The move came about when the national American Legion pulled its sponsorship of teams this year due to circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 global pandemic. The state of Ohio did likewise.

“We’ve talked about having two teams during the summer for the past couple of years,” manager D.J. Butler, who also coaches the high school Shamrocks, said. “Of all the bad stuff that has happened this summer, the one good thing was we are able to have two teams.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue this on to next season.”

The 14-player senior squad is comprised of a dozen Barnesville kids, along with one each from Monroe Central and Union Local. The Shamrocks were 20-7 in 2019 and lost in the Division III district semifinals to a quality Ridgewood squad.

“We were expecting a pretty good season until it was canceled,” Butler said in reference to the 2020 high school campaign. “We had 13 players with a ton of experience coming back. Now they will get to play some this summer.”

That roster includes Shamrocks’ Luke Eddy, Jagger Jefferis, Zach Thompson, Jared Kernen, Riley Tubaugh, Alex Meade, Uryan Meade, Ayden Hannahs, Jake Edwards, Luke Shultz, Haiden Skinner and Brady Wiles. The Jets’ Cody Morrison and the Seminoles’ Wade Stoehr complete the list.

Of those players, Jefferis is headed to Bryant Stratton Junior College; Alex Meade will play at NCAA Division I Coastal Carolina; Thompson at Walsh University and Kernen for Frederick (Md.) Community College.

The junior team has 15 players, with 13 of them hailing from Barnesville, while one is from Monroe Central and the other from Dola Hardin Northern High School.

“That one outsider would be my nephew who is coming to stay with us for the summer,” Butler said of sophomore-to-be Zachary Spearman.

The remainder of the roster has Barnesville players Gavin Carpenter, Spencer Bliss, Kyvan Johnson, Noah Strouss, Jeremy Hunkler, Logan Shepherd, Kason Powell, Colton Hines, C.J. Hannahs, Corbin Wise, Kayden Morris, Logan Anderson, Kane Wells and Jaxon Wiley. The Monroe Central product is Jake Winland.

The teams will utilize Memorial Park as their home field.

The junior team will play the Tri-State Blue Dons at 5 today, with the senior team playing the Tri-State Blue Dons at approximately 8 p.m. The senior team hosts Jefferson County Elite 19U on Sunday.