Seven members of Lawrence High’s Class 6A state championship baseball team will be wearing Raiders uniforms this summer.

That number is a bit deceptive, however, because only one of the seven was a regular.

In other words, Wilson Kilmer, first-year coach of the city’s American Legion team, will be fielding a mostly young, inexperienced squad when the Raiders open today against the Kansas City Sluggers.

Game time is 6 p.m. at Ice Field.

“We’re junior-laden,” Kilmer said. “And when we play in weekend showcase events, we’ll be going against older, more experience players, some who will be popping up in the major-league draft.”

Only two juniors started for the senior-laden LHS state champs — first baseman Tanner Kilmer and pitcher-outfielder Albert Minnis. Kilmer, the coach’s son, will be playing for the Raiders. Minnis, however, will toil for the Barnstormers, a traveling team out of Johnson County.

Young Kilmer will be joined on the Raiders by Lions’ teammates Cody Jones, Taylor Gentry, Ben Wyatt, Chris Parker, Mitch Whitson and Jack Bush.

Technically, Bush was also a starter because he played in the outfield when Minnis and senior Dorian Green were pitching, but Bush was usually replaced at the plate by a designated hitter.

Four Free State High products — Austin Holladay, Nick Hassig, Adam Petz and Ryan Scott — are also on the roster. Like the seven Lions, those Firebirds just completed their junior year in high school.

Eudora High’s Brian Kindle, Coulter Vestal and Drew Noble will also wear Raiders uniforms, as will a pair of returnees — outfielders Matthew Abel and Travis Sanders, both of whom spent the spring playing baseball in junior college. Abel was at Northern Oklahoma-Enid and Sanders at Pratt CC.

“Being the ‘old men,'” Wilson Kilmer said, “we’ll rely on Abel and Sanders a lot.”

Scott, a lanky 6-foot-3 right-hander who earned all-state honors with the Firebirds, is the centerpiece of the pitching staff.

“We plan on using him a lot,” Kilmer said. “He’s definitely our most experienced pitcher.”

Otherwise, Kilmer has several players who are listed as both pitchers and position players.

“We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things,” Kilmer said. “We have guys, for instance, who didn’t pitch much (in high school) because the innings weren’t available.”

On paper, the Raiders are deep in outfielders, but thin on infielders — shortstop, in particular.

“At short, we’ll be using somebody who hasn’t played there a lot,” Kilmer said.

Aaron Rea, the Lions’ shortstop, will be playing for the Midwest Bruins, a traveling team out of Topeka. Also on the Bruins’ roster are LHS pitcher Andy Urban and outfielder Tyler Bailey.

“We won’t have a hard-set lineup that we’ll roll out for 56 games,” Kilmer said. “Guys will have to move around and be versatile.”

In effect, the Raiders are composed primarily of players who will form the nucleus of next spring’s Lawrence High and Free State teams.

“My goal is for these guys to learn to be better baseball players,” Kilmer said. “At the same time, we want to put a product on the field that the people of Lawrence will want to see.”

During the season, the Raiders will play mid-week games at Ice Field, and travel to tournaments on weekends.