By DON O'BRIEN

Herald-Whig Sports Editor

HANNIBAL, Mo. — For two hours on Monday morning, the baseball field was a place for Jay Hemond to escape from it all.

Hemond, the Hannibal Cavemen's director of player personnel and the first-year Prospect League team's manager, has been consumed with other little things — like everyone else in the team's front office — as the days tick down to the Cavemen's debut Thursday against DuPage at the renovated Clemens Field.

"You concentrate on (baseball) when you're out on the field and then you try to take care of some of the other issues," Hemond said. "If we were in our second year, you might not have some of the little issues we're working on right now.

"We're trying to catch up in some places, but we have the players out on the field and they're really excited."

A group of 20 players gathered at Clemens on Monday for the team's first drills. Allowed a roster of 26 by Prospect League rules, Hemond expects the Cavemen to stay under that limit.

"That will give us a little more flexibility and give them a little more playing time," Hemond said.

The Cavemen's roster, which has yet to be finalized, is an electic mix of players from programs big (Southern California and Louisiana State) and small (Jefferson College).They have three players who previously have been selected in the Major League Baseball Entry Draft — UC Santa Barbara catcher Bryce Tafelski, who was a 42nd round pick of the Cleveland Indians in 2007, Valparaiso outfielder Kyle Gaedele, a 32nd round pick by Tampa Bay last year, and USC outfielder Colin Hoffman, a 50th round pick by Florida last year.

"What's going to be fun is to see how we're going to match up with other teams," Hemond said. "If you look at the rosters, there is a lot of talent in this league.

"We have some really good programs represented from the higher levels and the lower levels on our roster."

Hemond has surrounded himself with some quality assistant coaches. Don Buford, who is in town this week, and Jim Kaat will make special appearances with the team this year, while former Houston Astros pitcher Jeff Juden will serve as the team's pitching coach and former St. Louis Cardinal Lonnie Maclin will be the team's hitting coach. Hemond, who played collegiately at USC, will have some local flavor on his bench with Hannibal-LaGrange College coach Clay Biggs on staff.

— dobrien@whig.com/221-3365