By MARSHALL MOORE

Click Photo to Purchase Photo Reprints!

mmoore@gctelegram.com

One of Bill Wilson's first actions as Garden City High School's head baseball coach this spring was to give his team a little history lesson.

After meeting his players, he took them to the entrance of Clint Lightner Field where a simple metal sign lists the years of the Buffaloes' seven regional championships sits bolted to the side of the weathered stadium walls.

"The first thing I did was take the kids out there and showed them what (Garden City) has done in the past," Wilson said. "I told them that those are my expectations every year, that we get back to the point where we're going to the state tournament every year."

Wilson knows a thing or two about Garden City's baseball history. After all, he built the program from the ground up.

Hired after the program was founded in 1985 the 23-year coaching veteran created a state power out of the fledgling Buffaloes squad, winning six regional titles before stepping down in 1995. In 1992, he coached possibly the best team in school history to a 20-1 record and a No. 14 ranking in the National High School Baseball Coaches Associations' poll.

Now, he's just hoping that history repeats itself.

Wilson inherits a Buffaloes program that has gone 14-30 over the last two seasons and hasn't gone to the state tournament in almost a decade.

"I'm expecting us to do a lot better than we did last year," center fielder Josh Morales said. "Playing for (Wilson) is a lot of fun. I think I've learned more from him than anyone else. He explains everything so well and breaks it down. We take more time to run through things. We just do it over and over again until we get it right."

Last year's Garden City team started the year 4-0 and climbed to No. 2 in the state polls before going on 4-14 streak to close out the season. Instead of using last year's start and subsequent fall from grace as a bench marker, Wilson said he intends to start fresh -- like he did 23 years ago.

'It's a fresh slate," Wilson said. "It's like when I came out here in '85. I knew nothing about the kids and I really didn't have a lot of preconceived expectations. I come in here actually knowing maybe three kids out of all of the guys we had come out this year."

Considering the relative youth on the Buffaloes roster, it might be for the best.

Garden City returns only six seniors, and more than 15 juniors, to the field this season. The Buffaloes will be inexperienced on the mound after losing Dustin Lamb and Chase Carlin to graduation.

"We're a lot younger than we have been in the past," said catcher Brad Hoggatt, one of the returning seniors. "Last year we had two go-to-guys. This year it's more like bullpen like committee. We don't have too many guys that are our aces."

Hoggatt, who returns for his fourth season with the program, provides experience behind the plate that Wilson hopes will ease the transition of his unproven pitching staff.

"Pitching-wise, that's probably the one area that's up for grabs," Wilson said. "We're going to struggle there until we get some innings under our belt."

The Buffaloes were to open their season today at 4 p.m. with a doubleheader at Ulysses. Garden City will open at Clint Lightner Field on April 4 against Wichita North.