The names are familiar in the high school ranks in the Rathdrum and Spirit Lake area and for the Prairie "A" Cardinal American Legion baseball program.

Now, they've been called up to the big club.

Kris Jackson, Dustin Ceballos, Logan Bruner, A.J. Walls, Jesse Marks and Blake Wrotenbery of Lakeland High will join with Austin Allen and Derek Hansen of Timberlake High as newcomers to the Prairie "AA" team, which begins its season Monday with a doubleheader against Moscow at Post Falls High.

"We graduated 12 kids last year," said Prairie coach Dustin Frank, who is entering his fourth season as coach. "We're going to be a whole new team."

Only James Prockish and Jeremy McKinney - who both played at Lakeland this year - were eligible to return off last year's team. Both will play in the infield and pitch.

"This is going to be a fresh group," Frank said. "They're hard working and have played a lot of baseball together. They're used to playing together and we have some younger and older kids, but they are eager to learn."

Around the infield will be a mix of Jackson at shortstop, Ceballos at second base and Hansen, Bruner and Marks at the corner infield (third base/first base) positions.

"Both Kris and Dustin are going to see a lot of time in the middle of the infield," Frank said.

He also expects Allen - who was the primary catcher at Timberlake - Walls and Spendlove to see time in the infield.

Riley Denney and Jacob Koski of Post Falls and Ian Spendlove, who played at East Valley High, round out the roster and will roam the outfield and pitch. Spendlove received a waiver so he could play for Prairie.

"It's been the same group of kids for a few years now," Frank said. "We've got some new faces and it's exciting to see and be a part of."

Prairie has qualified for the state tournament the past two seasons, finishing 25-22 last year after going 0-2 at state at Harris Field in Lewiston.

Prairie, Coeur d'Alene and Lewis-Clark will compete for a lone berth to the state AA tournament at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian July 31-Aug. 3. Trail, British Columbia, is taking a one-year hiatus from Legion baseball, and Cranbrook, B.C., folded its Legion program.

"It's going to be real interesting to see who gels as a team," Frank said. "Our league has been dominated with pitching the last two years, but those guys have graduated. It could come down to whose underclassmen can step up and it's going to come down to who can prepare the young guys and who can get clutch hits. It's all up in the air, but it's exciting."

Prairie will compete in the Border Wars tournament (June 1-3) at Ramsey Park, the Missoula tournament June 13-16, Best of the Northwest tournament June 19-23 at Post Falls, Whitworth Summer Series June 27-30 in Spokane and the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Wood Bat tournament July 4-7 before concluding the season at a College Showcase tournament in Seattle July 11-14 and the Washington Open Championship in Ephrata July 18-20.

They've also added some exhibition games against Spokane teams and travel to Moses Lake on July 10.