Ray Hamill/HUmboldtSports.com – Scotty Brogan in action for the Eagles last summer.
By Ray Hamill — The local summer baseball season will feature several new coaches in the dugouts this year, although local fans will be familiar with most of them.
Most prominently, former McKinleyville High and Humboldt B52s coach Scott St. John is returning to the dugout to coach the Humboldt Eagles 19U team, as was announced earlier in the year..
But he’s not the only new face local fans will see this summer.
Brandon Coborn is taking over as the new manager of the Northern Humboldt Giants, while St. Bernard’s assistant coach Zack Smith will oversee the Wild Cactus and TJ Brogan will be manager of the Eagles 17Us.
Cody Emmons, meanwhile, will be back as manager of the Southern Humboldt 76ers.
The Eagles, as usual, will feature two teams this summer, a 19U squad made of some of the best high school and college players in the area, as well as a 17U team.
The Eagles 19Us will play the Humboldt Crabs as usual in the opening week of the season.
The Giants, 76ers and Wild Cactus will all field 17U squads, wit the latter also fielding a 15U squad.
The Eagles will hold additional tryouts for their summer rosters on Tuesday at Belotti Field across from the Redwood Acres from 5 to 7 p.m., while, the Giants and Wild Cactus will be hosting tryouts later in the week.
The Giants will hold their tryouts on Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and 31, at Arcata High School, beginning at noon, and they will play their home games this year at Arcata High.
The Wild Cactus, meanwhile, will hold tryouts on Sunday May 31at St. Bernard’s, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Smith and Coborn are excited to be back in the dugout and looking forward to the opportunity.
“I’m just honored to get the chance,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a great season.”
The Wild Cactus teams are scheduled to open the summer season at the Northern Humboldt Giants tournament in mid June and will play their home games at Crusader Field.
Coborn, meanwhile, brings plenty of experience to the Giants’ dugout, having severed as an assistant coach at College of the Redwoods and as head coach at Del Norte High.
“I’ve very humbled and honored that Tory (Ghisetti) has given me the opportunity to coach the Giants,” Coborn said. “We should have some good baseball players from Arcata, McKinleyville and Del Norte and we’re really excited for the four tournaments we have on our schedule.”
The Giants, who will play between 25 and 30 games this year, will travel for tournaments at Sutter and Reno, as well as hosting their own tournament and competing at the Eagles tournament, which is usually the biggest of the summer.
Coborn will also be joined in the dugout by a couple of former Arcata players who have played at the college level — Vincent Agliolo and Will Mager — as well as Eric Agliolo.
“I’m just excited to be back on the field,” Coborn said.
Chris Levitt will assist Brogan with the Eagles 17Us.
