By Ray Hamill — With a new name and a tougher schedule in store, the Lost Coast Legends baseball travel club will host a fundraiser at the Old Growth Cellars in Eureka later this month.

The newly-formed club will feature three teams this year, including a 10U squad, an 11U squad and a 13U squad.

The 11U players competed together as part of the Redwood Giants last year, but the coaches decided to form a new travel club for 2024.

“We just kind of wanted to do our own thing,” said 11U head coach Tyler Conley, who will oversee the team along with coaches Steve Morgan, Brett Banducci and Gary Blasi. “We all played together as kids and we wanted the same for our kids.”

The 10U and 13U squads are new.

The fundraiser will be held on Saturday, Jan. 27, and gets under way at 5 p.m.

The event will feature food trucks, live music and a silent auction.

“There’ll be a little mixture of everything, from out-of-town trips to gift baskets,” Conley said of the auction. “And it’s all for the kids.”

The funds raised will help offset the cost of traveling to tournaments in 2024, including a trip for the 11Us to Arizona in March to compete in the big Arizona Spring Championships.

Last year, as Redwood Giants, the 11Us competed in seven tournaments and enjoyed plenty of success, including winning their age bracket at the Reno World Series in July.

This year, the Division-2 travel team wants to compete at some tougher events.

“It’s a big one,” Conley said of the Arizona tournament. “The majority of the teams there are D-I teams from Washington to Ohio.”

The players will also get the opportunity to check out some MLB spring training games while they are there.

All three Lost Coast Legends teams will travel to Sacramento for the season-opening tournament in early February.

Submitted photo – The Lost Coast legends 11Us.