BEATRICE – Baseball players at Diller-Odell High School may soon be able to play for the Beatrice Orangemen.


Pending action by the Beatrice School Board, a co-op arrangement could soon be finalized. BHS Athletic and Activities Director Gus Brown says Beatrice was contacted by Diller-Odell a few months ago.


"They have a lot of kids in that area that are in our youth programs and they currently do not have a high school baseball program. So, they contacted us to see what our interest was. We had our parent meeting in the spring to see if there was any objections. The only concern was that if we get enough kids, could we put together a reserve schedule. We currently do that with all of our sports if we get enough kids. We try to pick up reserve games. I think it's a good deal."


Beatrice Public Schools currently has other co-op arrangements for sports with other districts…… Freeman Public on girl’s wrestling….and Freeman, Norris and Fairbury for swimming.


"The way it works financially, is that we take the number of participants and we have our total cost....and divide that by the number of participants....and each school gets billed based on how many participants they have. Everyone I've talked to has been on board with it...I have not had any objections. I think it would be a good move for our community."


If approved, the baseball co-op between Beatrice and Diller Odell would start this coming school year, with the initial agreement for two years. Beatrice School Board President Eric Trusty said he’s heard from Diller-Odell and baseball coaches and everyone was positive about the proposed change. It will be on the Beatrice School Board agenda for action, in April.