Washington’s current American Legion Post 100 baseball roster reflects a lot of players looking to gain experience.

Of the initial 12 players listed on head coach Kyle Wisher’s Senior ballclub, only six played for the Washington Community High School varsity squad this spring.

Of those half-dozen Panthers, just three were full-time players for a 23-12, Mid-Illini Conference co-champion.

Still, Wisher is confident his team will perform well when most of the components are available.

“I hope we can continue to be competitive game in and game out,” Wisher said. “I think our program is on the rise and we want to keep it that way.”

Washington is fairly young, but the players it has are capable.

Recent graduates Mike Schwenk and Hayden Shaver and senior-to-be Alex Wilson lead Post 100 after playing key roles in the spring.

Schwenk had a career varsity batting average over .300 and Shaver was a first-team all-conference outfielder.

Wilson has earned first-team and second-team all-league honors the last two campaigns.

Other 2009 WCHS graduates Mike Zehr and Josh Hofer also are on the team after chipping in for the Panther varsity.

Ryan Harkins, a junior in the fall, was unbeaten in three pitching decisions.

Jake Brackeen, Landon Longfellow, Austin Nichols, Seth Teubel and Cody Stewart all were Washington sophomore-level mainstays.

Tyler Facker, a junior-to-be, was a member of the Eureka varsity.

“We should be competitive with anybody,” said Wisher, whose schedule is similar to last year’s with a sampling of all the local teams such as Pekin, Metamora, Brimfield and Morton.

Other players could be added to give the Washington Seniors greater flexibility.

Wisher said everyone is looking forward to the second season since Legion baseball returned to Washington and the community is excited.

Washington also has road doubleheaders lined up for Saturday and Sunday against Limestone and Peoria (at Richwoods).

The 16th District seed meeting is July 14, one week before the start of the annual tournament at EastSide Centre.

Galesburg is the host of the Third Division Tournament, which goes from July 28 to Aug. 2.