RAPID CITY - Former Post 22 standout, Mitch Messer, who won two state championships and went to two World Series as a player now returns to Fitzgerald Stadium as the coach of the Post 14 Bozeman Bucks where he has continued his winning ways.

Bozeman comes to Rapid City fresh off a championship game appearance in the Gopher Classic in Minneapolis, where they played in the Metrodome. Under Messer, the Bucks won their first Montana state championship last season, and were one game away from the American Legion World Series. This season, they return 15 of the 18 from that championship team.

"We have a good team coming back, last year we hit 74 home runs as a team in 74 games, and a lot of those guys are back. This season, were on pace to do that again, so we're strong at the plate. On the mound and on defense we've really been playing better over the last few weeks." Messer said.

Post 14 will be playing in this year's Dr. James "Pev" Evans Tournament.

"It is always good to come back to Rapid City, we come back to Rapid City so that we can play good competition," said Messer. "The community is always behind baseball here."

After graduating from Central High School in 1997, Messer went on to play baseball at Southwestern Iowa Junior College where he helped lead it to its first conference championship game. Messer then went on to play for Augustana University in Sioux Falls where he graduated with a degree in sports management.

Messer's first coaching job came in 2001 in Sioux Falls for Post 15 as the junior varsity coach. He then went on to coach the Bitterroot Bucs just outside Missoula, Mont. where in his first season he led them to the state championship game. He finally ended up in Bozeman where he took over the head coaching job in 2006. As Bozeman's head coach, Messer's record is 146-48. This will be Messer's third trip to Rapid City.

"Our expectations for this tournament are the same as every tournament we play in. We want to come in and win it." Messer said. "We're going to treat the tournament the same we as we do every other tournament, game by game"

Messer and the Bucks will battle Post 22 and his former coach Dave Ploof Friday night at 8 p.m.

"Coach Ploof has had a big influence on how I coach," said Messer. "I have been fortunate to play for a lot of good coaches in my playing career. So I have definitely taken things from each one of them, and we try to put together our own philosophy on how we play the game."

Bozeman starts tournament play tonight against Minot, N.D. at 5 p.m.