BISBEE - Copper Kings manager Butch Hammett made a slight request during a brief team meeting on Wednesday at the Bisbee High School junior varsity baseball field.

"If there's any 6-foot-5, 95-mile-an-hour throwing pitchers, let me know," Hammett said. "We don't have any crafty lefties."

Bisbee may not have any imposing flamethrowers or left-handed pitchers who can baffle hitters to no end on its current 20-man roster.

But it does have an even better team than the one last season that finished first in the Border Baseball Series at 18-3.

As most of its players were able to play along with job, family and other personal commitments, the amateur-level Copper Kings occasionally had to piecemeal a few pitchers in its inaugural season.

We'll definitely be more stable," Hammett said. "The level of play's up. The level of interest was definitely up. We had to cut four or five players."

At 5 p.m. on Saturday in San Luis, Bisbee will open its season with a doubleheader, then it will play a game at noon on Sunday.

Carlos Chavez, one of several current or former Cochise College ballplayers on the roster, will get the start in the opener.

Chavez is in his first full season with the Kings, after the freshman left-hander helped the Apaches win the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference championship and reached the Region I Finals. His teammates call him Michael, his middle name.

"I pitched a game last year," Chavez said. "It's more fun, but it's competitive at the same time. This keeps me doing something, instead of sitting around."

Ricky Valdez of Pima Community College will start the second game.

Bisbee will play its home opener at 7 p.m. on June 1 at Warren Ballpark, against the Tucson Stars.

Sergio Moreno, the team's top pitcher who was 6-0 last season, will get the start if he can make it off his new job with the Border Patrol. He graduated from the Border Patrol Academy on May 10. Moreno is one of 10 pitchers on the roster.

That game will preceed a doubleheader at 5 p.m. on June 2 against the A's, then a noon game on Sunday at Warren Ballpark.

"We'll probably go with Serge, Carlos, Shane Foreman, Ricky Valdez and Jason Kimzey," Hammett said. "That's what we're looking at right now."

The left-hander Kimzey (Lamar Community College in Lamar, Colo., Willcox); Eastern's Foreman, former Bisbee ace Anthony Morales, and Cochise College's Diego Ochoa round out the deep pitching staff.

A slew of changes and additions dot the landscape this summer.

First off, the Copper Kings changed its name from the Bisbee Kings. The Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings were a professional team in 2003 that played in a league that folded.

The team will also sport snazzy new uniforms. The home threads are white with either copper- or turqoise-colored piping on the shoulders. They have what could be considered a futuristic-looking Copper Kings on the front and the numbers on the back.

The road digs will feature an old-time style, handwriting of 'Bisbee' on the front, with a sharp black uniform with the copper or turqouise on the shoulders.

The pants are white and the hat is black with a 'CK' on it, with a king's crown atop the 'C.

Bisbee will play in the newly formed Centennial Baseball League with three other teams from last season's Border Baseball League. The Phoenix-based Arizona D'Jaxx, the Tucson Stars and the new San Luis Athlteics south of Yuma.

"I'm sure they'll put some talent on the field," Hammett said. "We hope to play some good ball this year. It's an unknown factor as far as some of the teams out there. The D'Jaxx had 75 people come out and they charged a $300 fee for each player in order to play. I'm sure they'll be better."

Second, there will be a championship series between the top two teams in the four-team league. The best-of-three-game series is on Aug. 4-5.

The third major addition is that Bisbee will host a National Baseball Congress Tournament on July 20-26.

All four CBL teams, along with top-flight amateur teams from Arizona and California, will compete.

The winner will be one of 42 teams who will advance to the 73rd NBC World Series from July 29 through Aug. 12 in Wichita, Kans.

Hammett said the starting lineup on Friday is just about set.

Right fielder Zach Baldenegro will bat leadoff, shortstop Manny Davila will hit second, former Salpointe Catholic and St. Mary's catcher Tom Chadwick, another new Copper King, will hit third. Davila hit .524 last season

Sergio Davila Jr., son of assistant coach Sergio Davila Sr., will hit cleanup. Davila Jr. played for Division II Colorado State University at Pueblo, Colo. The ThunderWolves finished second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 36-15.

Davila was tied for second on the team with a .390 batting average, and and he hit a team-leading 10 home runs and 57 RBI. Second baseman Mario Barredo follows in the five-hole, followed by third baseman Tad Hammett, former Buena and current Cochise College player Justin Wright as the designated hitter, former Bisbee and current Eastern Arizona College center fielder Robert Rodriguez. Recent Bisbee graduate Sterling Schuller, the runner-up for the Class 2A Player of the Year award, will play left and bat ninth.

"A lot of those we'll play at a lot of different positions," Hammett said. "We only have three high school players: Carlos Lopez from Bisbee, Jacob Thomas out of Buena - those two can help us with our pitching - and Sterling."

Eastern Arizona College and ex-Buena player Carlos Martinez and Robert Leigh of Cochise College via Douglas High provide depth at catcher. Nick Greer is a reserve infielder.