BUTTE — The start of the 2026 Montana high school baseball season looks a lot different for Butte High's team than when the Bulldogs were part of the inaugural season back in 2023.
For one thing, Butte was one of just 21 teams to make its debut that season. This year, that number has more than doubled to 43.
Also, that original 21-team field played under a single classification back in '23 and the following two seasons. The field has expanded to the point that teams will play under two classes this season — AA and A-B-C. All AA schools now have baseball programs except for Helena High and Helena Capital.
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That means that for the first time there will be two high school state baseball tournaments in Montana and two state champions after Polson won the first tournament in 2023, Florence emerged as champion in 2024 and Billings Central seized the crown last season.
Oh, and that first season? Early spring storms covered Butte's home field — 3 Legends Stadium — in so much snow that the Bulldogs weren't able to play their first home game until almost the end of April.
So Butte and head coach Jim LeProwse were more than happy to be practicing outdoors as they gear up for their season opener against a first-year Bozeman Gallatin team next week.
"This is the first time since I've been coaching high school that we've been able to get outside this early, so this is great," said LeProwse.
He also said he's been happy to see the number of participating teams steadily increase each season as high school baseball continues to expand in Montana.
"I'm thrilled to see that it's advanced like it has," he said. "Every year more teams are coming in."
The first-ever State AA baseball tournament will take place in Butte at the end of May while the A-B-C tournament will unfold in Polson.
The Bulldogs — who hosted the first state tournament in '23 — missed state for the first time last season. Wanting to play in their home venue should provide plenty of motivation to return to the state tournament.
And without Helena teams in the Western AA this season there's just six teams in that division meaning the top 2 seeds will automatically qualify for state while the last four seeds will meet in play-in games to determine the other two teams that will head to state.
"When the town rallies around us that's when we play our best," said senior Cayde Stajcar, who was named the Montana Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year following the 2024 season. "So the state tournament is definitely a huge goal of ours. But we're just focused on the first game against Gallatin and then going one game at a time."
