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Star Correspondent

With the opening of the 2025 Appalachian League season just 14 days away, the River Riders will open the season at home against the Tri-State Coal Cats. River Riders GM Kiva Fuller says the team has brought Jeremy Owens back as manager, and she said, “Jeremy does a great job getting the team ready. The players will begin arriving on June 1, and they will have a few days to acclimate themselves with the coaches and each other and begin to define roles.”

As far as acquiring players, Fuller says that is all done by MLB and they won’t know who the players are until one week before the season begins.

“Major League Baseball has been more involved than ever. They provide housing for the players at ETSU, they provide travel expenses, meals, equipment, and they provide data coordinators. They see this league as a way to explore younger players and see what their potential may be at the next level.”

Aislyn Welch has been brought in as the data coordinator, and she will build a portfolio for each player and send her findings to each player’s college team and to every major league team for evaluation.

When the professional Appalachian League was disbanded, it left fans upset and wondering what the future of baseball in this area would be, and the River Riders have been active in the community in an effort to bring the fans back.

“When the league was reformed, we had to reach out to the community to bring the fans back and that was our main focus. We are seeing more and more young fans and young families coming to the ballpark, and that is gratifying. I think this league is set up to develop young players and improve their chances of being drafted by MLB teams, and the fans recognize this.”

Owners Randy and Jenny Boyd have spent considerable resources in improving Northeast Community Credit Union Ballpark to make it more fan-friendly, with third base and first base pavilions with table seating that has been extremely popular with the fan base and are nearly always at capacity.

“That was an improvement that we have seen grow more popular each season,” Fuller said. “I think we are fan-friendly and family-friendly, and we work year-round to try and think of things to make it better and better each and every season with promotions and kids’ games. We want to make your time at the park as fun and memorable as we possibly can.”

Game times are set for 6:30 p.m.