Baseball is known as America’s pastime, but it will be the newest sport added to Veritas Christian’s athletic program.

The Eagles will start a baseball program for its high schoolers this spring.

“We had a lot of interest,” athletic director Brett Temple said. “We had a lot of young boys that were looking to do something in the spring. We’ve had a pretty decent track program, but a lot of our athletes, like most schools in the springtime, don’t really have much if they’re not in track.”

Temple said this season will serve as a “trial run” and that the school is in the process of finalizing its schedule but won’t have many home games. The school is still searching for a permanent home field in the future.

The Eagles will be coached by Trent Flory, who will coach the Kansas City Rebels 14U team in the summer. Temple said there’s around 10 to 15 boys who have expressed some interest to play for the school this spring.

“I’m really excited,” said Flory, who has coached his sons’ teams for the past six or seven years. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I think we spent a lot of time preparing for it.”

“He’s been a prominent baseball coach for summer leagues,” added Temple, who will likely serve as an assistant coach. “He has a bunch of kids he coaches in the summer and his experience is really great, and we’re really blessed and fortunate to have him.”

Temple, who is the grandson of former longtime Kansas University baseball coach Floyd Temple, said support has been near universal from families and the school board. The main focus is having a program in existence for future years when the number of students entering the high school is expected to increase.

“Our numbers are really strong in the eighth-grade class, so coming up next year they’ll be freshmen,” Temple said. “They’ll be kind of our heart of starting the baseball program. Sixth, seventh and eighth grades have a lot of kids. This season we felt like, ‘Let’s get it started.'”