2024 North Platte 80s Inaugural Season Recap - A New Beginning for Professional Baseball in North Platte
The 2024 season marked the beginning of the North Platte 80s and one of the most unusual expansion stories in Pecos League history. North Platte, Nebraska was never an obvious location for the league geographically. The city sat approximately four hours north of Garden City, Kansas and was otherwise well outside the traditional Pecos League footprint. Interstate 80 provided an easy east-west route through Nebraska, but virtually every Pecos League road trip required the 80s to travel south before connecting with the rest of the Mountain Division.
North Platte became available to the Pecos League because of two completely different baseball situations that had fallen apart at nearly the same time. The Pecos League needed a replacement for the Lancaster Sound Breakers, who had played the 2023 season in Lancaster, California. Lancaster lost its stadium to the USL Soccer League, leaving the Sound Breakers without a home field and forcing the Pecos League to find another market for the 2024 season.
At the same time, North Platte had recently lost its own baseball team. The North Platte Plainsmen had begun playing in Independence League Baseball in 2022. The Plainsmen lasted only two seasons. By 2023, they no longer had a regular league structure to play in and found it extremely difficult to convince independent opponents to make the trip to North Platte. After struggling through the 2023 season, the Plainsmen folded immediately after the season ended.
There were also continuing problems surrounding Bill Wood Field. The owners of the Plainsmen had been unable to establish a productive relationship with American Legion Post 163. The American Legion had been the primary baseball tenant at Bill Wood Field for approximately 40 years and considered the facility its baseball home. Bringing another organization into the stadium created friction that lasted throughout the Plainsmen's short existence.
Two years was it for the Plainsmen.
After the organization folded, there was an attempt to sell the existing operation to the Pecos League. The Pecos League was informed that it could not simply purchase the Plainsmen and continue operating the existing team. If professional baseball was going to continue in North Platte, the Pecos League would have to create an entirely new franchise.
That is exactly what happened.
The Pecos League founded the North Platte 80s as its new Nebraska franchise and replacement for Lancaster. Baseball historian Tim Wheeler came up with the North Platte 80s name, which gave the organization an identity that worked on several different levels. The name represented the 1980s era of baseball, music and tradition, allowing the club to build promotions and an identity around one of the most recognizable eras in American culture.
But the most important local connection was Interstate 80. I-80 runs directly through North Platte and is the major east-west transportation corridor across Nebraska. For a city located hundreds of miles from most of its Pecos League opponents, the highway was more than just part of the team name. Interstate 80 was the road that connected North Platte with the rest of the region and became a natural part of the franchise identity.
Todd Everleth was selected as the first manager in North Platte 80s history. Everleth came to North Platte with experience in the Empire League and was given the difficult assignment of building a professional expansion roster while also establishing a completely new Pecos League operation in Nebraska.
Initially, the Pecos League believed North Platte could become a strong location for spring training. The league decided to bring both the North Platte 80s and Tucson Saguaros to Nebraska, resulting in more than 100 players from the two organizations coming to the North Platte area before the season. The concept was to create a large professional baseball presence in the region, allow two Pecos League clubs to prepare together and generate excitement before Opening Day.
The plan immediately encountered problems. The Pecos League was informed that Bill Wood Field would not be available for both teams to practice. American Legion Post 163 did not want another baseball organization occupying the field. With Bill Wood Field unavailable to accommodate both clubs, the Tucson Saguaros conducted their spring training in nearby Hershey, Nebraska. Hershey provided Tucson with a place to work out and prepare while the 80s continued their own preparations in the North Platte area.
Having Tucson conduct spring training in Hershey also expanded the Pecos League's presence beyond North Platte itself. Players who had traveled from across the country to compete for roster spots found themselves practicing in a small Nebraska community before beginning a season that would eventually take them throughout the western United States. It was an unusual beginning even by independent baseball standards.
The spring training situation was also an early warning of the stadium problems the 80s would encounter throughout the summer. Before the first regular-season pitch had even been thrown, the Pecos League had learned that access to Bill Wood Field would be complicated and that operating professional baseball in North Platte would require working around an established American Legion baseball program.
The season nevertheless moved forward, and Tucson remained in the area to open the regular season against North Platte. This gave local fans an immediate opportunity to see one of the Pecos League's established teams and understand the level of baseball that would be played at Bill Wood Field.
The North Platte 80s played the first game in franchise history against Tucson on May 28, 2024. There was considerable excitement surrounding Opening Night. The 80s were not simply beginning another season of baseball. This was a completely new professional franchise making its debut only months after the Plainsmen had disappeared.
North Platte battled Tucson before losing 13-10. The result wasn't what the home crowd wanted, but professional baseball under the North Platte 80s name had officially begun. Tucson followed with a 13-0 victory the next day, demonstrating just how difficult the Mountain Division could be for an expansion roster.
Then came one of the wildest games of the entire inaugural season. North Platte played the Santa Fe Fuego and built an enormous lead. At one point the expansion 80s led by 16 runs and appeared headed toward the first victory in franchise history.
It didn't happen.
Santa Fe staged an extraordinary comeback and defeated North Platte 27-26. For an expansion team searching for its first victory, blowing a 16-run lead was a crushing way to lose. It also immediately introduced North Platte fans to the unpredictable nature of Pecos League baseball.
The difficult beginning continued. North Platte lost 28-7 on May 31, 15-13 on June 1 and 10-8 on June 2. After six games, the North Platte 80s were 0-6.
The first victory finally arrived on June 5 at Bill Wood Field against the Blackwell FlyCatchers. North Platte and Blackwell played into extra innings before the 80s pulled out a 10-9 victory in 11 innings. After six consecutive losses to begin franchise history, Todd Everleth and his players finally had their first win.
It was an important moment for an organization that had already experienced more adversity than most expansion teams face before reaching June.
North Platte could not immediately build momentum from the victory. Blackwell won the next three games 14-10, 8-2 and 7-4, and the 80s continued to struggle with consistency. The season was quickly becoming a test of whether the new organization could remain together through adversity.
The biggest problems were not limited to what happened on the field. Todd Everleth quickly learned how difficult it could be to operate around the American Legion and other commitments at Bill Wood Field. During June, the 80s were forced away from North Platte for approximately 10 days because of the famed Nebraskaland Days concert series.
For most Pecos League teams, a long road trip was simply part of the schedule. For North Platte it was a much larger problem.
Garden City was approximately four hours south and represented the closest logical connection to the rest of the Pecos League. From there, trips continued into Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. North Platte's location meant that nearly every road swing became a major transportation operation.
The 80s had been placed in a league built around long-distance bus travel, and they were starting from one of the most isolated points on the entire map.
North Platte continued fighting through June and showed occasional signs of what the team could become. There were close losses mixed in with difficult nights, but the 80s were beginning to compete deeper into games. Back-to-back one-run losses demonstrated that North Platte was not always far away. The expansion team simply had not yet learned how to consistently finish close games.
The team returned home and earned another victory during June, but the month remained difficult overall. By the end of June, the 80s' record looked exactly like that of a first-year team that had been forced to learn everything the hard way.
Then July arrived.
July completely changed the story of the inaugural North Platte 80s season.
North Platte began winning more regularly and showed that the team that had struggled through May and June was beginning to develop. The 80s recorded a 13-8 road victory early in the month and soon followed with a 2-0 shutout. That shutout was particularly significant. Early in the season, North Platte had frequently been forced into high-scoring games where its pitching staff could not contain opposing offenses. Winning a game 2-0 demonstrated that the 80s were becoming capable of winning in a completely different way.
The momentum continued when the team returned home to face Santa Fe. North Platte defeated the Fuego 12-6 and followed with an 11-7 victory the next night. It was a dramatic reversal from the earlier game when Santa Fe had erased a 16-run North Platte lead to win 27-26. Several weeks later, the 80s were a much more composed team.
North Platte continued picking up wins throughout July. The 80s won on the road, won close games and began putting together stretches where they looked much more like an established Pecos League club than an expansion team.
One of the most impressive stretches came during a trip to Roswell. North Platte defeated the Invaders in consecutive games, proving that the 80s could travel into one of the Pecos League's established markets and win.
The 80s later defeated Trinidad 15-14 in another high-scoring game and then produced perhaps their strongest stretch of baseball of the entire year. North Platte defeated Roswell 8-0, followed with a 4-3 victory and then won 12-3.
Three consecutive victories in three very different kinds of games showed what Everleth's team had become. They could win a shutout. They could win a one-run game. They could win a high-scoring game.
The expansion team that had once started 0-6 was suddenly playing some of the best baseball of its season.
North Platte's late-season surge was strong enough to keep the 80s competitive late into July. The club was no longer simply trying to survive its inaugural season. Players and coaches were beginning to establish a foundation for the future.
The 80s ultimately finished their inaugural season with a 16-33 record, tied with the Santa Fe Fuego for last place in the Mountain North.
The final record, however, did not completely describe the season.
This was a team that began 0-6 and spent much of June struggling simply to stay competitive. By July, the 80s were winning series, beating established opponents on the road, recording shutouts and consistently putting themselves in position to win.
Individual players also began establishing the first entries in the North Platte 80s record book.
Coby Tweten became one of the most consistent offensive players on the inaugural team. Tweten appeared in 47 games and hit .319, collecting 52 hits in 163 at-bats. He scored 36 runs, hit seven doubles and four home runs and drove in 32 runs. Tweten also drew 34 walks, was hit by 12 pitches and stole 10 bases. His ability to reach base and remain in the lineup made him one of Everleth's most dependable players throughout the season.
Sean Bennett provided another major contribution after joining the club. Bennett hit .393 in 16 games, recording 22 hits in 56 at-bats with five doubles, a triple and two home runs. He drove in 16 runs and drew 13 walks while striking out only eight times.
Rico Riley also made an immediate impact. Riley hit .364 in 15 games, collecting 24 hits in 66 at-bats. He scored 21 runs, drove in 15 and stole 13 bases. His speed helped change the dynamic of the North Platte offense during the second half of the season.
Like many first-year Pecos League teams, roster turnover was a constant part of the summer. Players arrived and departed, roles changed and Everleth had to continue rebuilding portions of the roster while simultaneously dealing with enormous travel demands and the uncertainty surrounding the team's home field.
Perhaps more important than any individual statistic was the fact that the organization survived its first summer.
The Pecos League had entered a market where the previous team had folded after only two seasons. The league inherited none of the stability that normally comes with purchasing an existing organization. The North Platte 80s had to be created from the ground up with a new name, new players, new coaches, new sponsors and a completely new operating structure.
The organization also had to overcome the complicated history surrounding Bill Wood Field.
The spring training problems made it clear from the beginning that stadium access would not always be easy. Having Tucson conduct spring training in Hershey because Bill Wood Field could not accommodate both Pecos League teams illustrated just how complicated the situation was before Opening Day. The long absence during Nebraskaland Days reinforced that reality during the regular season.
Todd Everleth wasn't simply managing baseball games. He was trying to establish a professional baseball organization in a facility where another baseball organization had been the dominant tenant for decades.
At the same time, the inaugural season proved there was still a market for baseball in North Platte. Sponsors returned. Fans came back to Bill Wood Field. The community gradually became familiar with the 80s and with Pecos League baseball. What began as an uncertain replacement for a folded summer team developed into an organization with its own identity.
The 16-33 record was not what Everleth or his players wanted, but the season had two completely different personalities. The 80s spent the beginning of the year looking like an expansion team. They started 0-6, suffered a devastating 27-26 loss after leading Santa Fe by 16 runs and endured extended losing streaks while attempting to solve pitching, roster and travel problems.
By July, they looked like a team that belonged in the Pecos League.
They beat Santa Fe. They won consecutive games in Roswell. They recorded shutouts. They won close games. They began putting together winning stretches that had seemed impossible during the opening weeks of the season.
Most importantly, the North Platte 80s survived.
Lancaster's loss of its stadium had created an opening in the Pecos League. The collapse of the Plainsmen had created an opening in North Platte. Those two unrelated events came together to produce a new professional baseball team hundreds of miles from most of the league.
The inaugural season featured nearly everything imaginable: stadium disputes, more than 100 players arriving in Nebraska for spring training, Tucson being forced to practice in nearby Hershey, an 0-6 start, a blown 16-run lead, an 11-inning first victory, exhausting road trips, a lengthy absence during Nebraskaland Days, constant roster turnover and a much stronger second half.
It wasn't an easy beginning.
But it was a beginning.
The North Platte 80s finished 2024 with a 16-33 record, Todd Everleth completed his first season as manager, and professional baseball in North Platte had survived to play another year.
The North Platte 80s were officially part of the Pecos League.
