The Three Rivers Sandblasters have started this season just like last year. The South Coast’s Class AAA American Legion team hopes for a similar end to the summer.

In 2007, the Sandblasters started the season with a 10-game road trip to Alaska, where they faced many of the top college players in the country and came home with an 0-10 record.

This year, the Sandblasters started with a pair of games against the Bend Elks of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League — a two-game road trip that started with a pair of shutout losses.

Bend won the opener 8-0 on Tuesday and beat the Sandblasters 11-0 on Wednesday, taking advantage of a nine-run sixth inning.

Jim Dietz, who started the Three Rivers program four years ago, had no complaints.

“This is really good for us,” Dietz said. “We want to be challenged. We want to play up, not down.”

After a game against North Coos, the Sandblasters’ Class A sister team, today in Florence, Three Rivers plays an even better foe, the Eugene Emeralds, on Saturday in Florence — the third time the Ems have been on the schedule in four years.

Three Rivers had been scheduled to also play North Coos on Friday in North Bend, but that game has been postponed. The time for today’s game has been shifted to 5 p.m.

Last year, the Sandblasters followed their early road trip by winning the Zone 3 title and reaching the state tournament, where they finished third.

A similar finish would be a big challenge this year, since the team lost a number of its top veterans, who had been with the program for three years, but are now too old for American Legion ball.

Some familiar names were in the lineup for the opener, though, when Three Rivers had just 10 players — nine for the first three innings — because some of the team members still are finishing school.

Siuslaw’s Tyler Mais, one of the returning players, had two of the Sandblasters’ eight hits. Catcher Ethan Ottemiller from North Bend, third baseman Travis Iverson from Newport and pitcher Scott Buche from Myrtle Point, three more returners, each had a hit.

Two of the other three hits came from newcomers to the team from the South Coast — North Bend’s Kale Forrester and Reedsport’s David King.

Chris Shin, a pitcher from Southwestern Oregon Community College, started on the mound and gave up four earned runs in three innings.

Buche, who was late to the game because of car trouble, came on and had four strikeouts in 2 2-3 innings. Forrester pitched the final two innings and also had four strikeouts.

“It wasn’t bad,” Dietz said. “It wasn’t great. It was a start.

“I thought we played really well in spurts. We’re giving up a lot of experience.”

Dietz was thrilled with the defense of Iverson at third base, as well as some of the other defenders, despite six errors.

"Ethan — his catching is going to get better and better,” Dietz said. “I was pleased with that.

“There were so many things that were good.”

The Elks, who are just starting their season, are loaded with players from top college teams. They also are a big hit in Bend, often drawing several thousand fans.

“We had a nice crowd,” Dietz said. “They were loud.”

In Wednesday’s game, Bend had just seven hits, but scored nine times in the sixth to turn a 1-0 lead into a 10-0 advantage.

Three Rivers managed just four hits, including singles by Ottemiller, Rainwater and Cole Skriver, another returner from last year.

Mais was solid on the mound after Bend’s big inning, limiting the Elks to just one unearned run after the big inning.

Following a spring with weird weather, the team drove through snow while crossing the Santiam Pass and Dietz said the temperature dropped once the sun went down Tuesday.

The weather should be much better the next few days.

The Sandblasters and North Coos meet at 5 p.m. today, though Friday’s game has been postponed.

Today’s game will showcase the overall talent on the South Coast. North Coos begins its season after also reaching the state tournament last year.

Saturday’s game will be an early highlight for the Sandblasters, even though several of the team’s players will be competing in the Class 4A all-star baseball series in Roseburg.

Dietz said a huge crowd is expected for the 2:30 p.m. game against the Ems.

Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for students, but free tickets are available at eight Florence-area businesses — KCST Radio (which broadcasts most of the team’s games), Sears, Oldfields, Honeyman Nursery and Landscaping, Grocery Outlet, Good Stuff, Copeland Lumber and The Canoe Club.

In addition, Western Lane Ambulance Service will have a safety program encouraging the use of helmets by kids using bicycles and skateboards, Dietz said. Those who participate in the event, which starts at 1:30 p.m., will receive free helmets and also free admission to the game.

At the game, Moe’s restaurant is sponsoring 50-cent clam chowder and Grocery Outlet is sponsoring 50-cent hot dogs for the early portion of the game.

Dietz expects the limited grandstand space to fill quickly for the game, and encourages fans to bring lawn chairs so they can sit along the left-field line.

The Ems are expected to suit up several of their top draft picks for the game as they start their season in Class A ball.