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Jul. 7—MITCHELL — College wood-bat summer baseball will be in Mitchell for the first time on Saturday.
If those in charge of the Bison Baseball Club have their way, they'll be back again in 2027 for a full season. Team leaders said they hope to have the Palace City Bison on the diamond to play home games in Mitchell.
Independence League Baseball is bringing two teams to Cadwell Park on Saturday, July 11 for a regular-season game. That will involve the Pierre-based Oahe Zap and its sister club, the traveling squad that is the Bison Baseball club.
Bob Habeger, a co-owner of the two baseball teams, said the intention is to have a full-season team in Mitchell in 2027. He was meeting with Mitchell city leaders on Tuesday to discuss a potential contract to use Cadwell Park for the 2027 season.
"We're working with the city and talking with the Palace City Baseball Association," Habeger said. "We bought the Gem City Bison two years ago and were looking to move the franchise to South Dakota. We've been looking for different fits."
The game is at 6 p.m. Saturday at Cadwell Park. Tickets are currently being sold on the Oahe Zap website for $5.
Habeger has owned the Gem City Bison since 2024, and the franchise has been an off-and-on franchise in the ILB since their creation in 2022. It played in Laramie, Wyoming as the Gem City Bison for a season before halting operations in 2023.
Habeger said he's been encouraged by his conversations with Mitchell residents and business leaders over the last week since the one-off Mitchell game was first lined up.
"We've met the right people here," Habeger said. "We've gotten some great input and feedback about placing the team here. I think it's been very positive so far."
Habeger, who is from Ramona, South Dakota, got involved with baseball in 2022 when the Oahe Zap was formed after the Pierre Trappers and the Expedition League they were playing in folded. His son, Jamy Habeger, also owns the Zap and is the team's head coach, and was previously the Trappers' coach for a few years.
"The Expedition League folded, he was coaching it in Pierre," Bob Habeger said. "They were looking to replace it and that's where the Oahe Zap came in and where we came in."
The Bison have been a traveling-only baseball club since Habeger got involved. In 2024, the team was 2-17 in its 19 road games played over three weeks in July. The Bison were 1-16 in 2025, playing all road games once again.
In 2026, it will serve to give the other three full-time franchises in the league more home games: the Casper Spuds, the Oahe Zap and the Spearfish Sasquatch. It will play Oahe nine times in the month of July, with eight of those games in Pierre, plus five games in Casper, Wyoming and six games in Spearfish. The Bison started their 2026 season with a 1-1 record, splitting two games in Pierre.
The Zap have been in Pierre since 2023, replacing the Pierre Trappers after the Expedition League folded in 2022. Spearfish's team is the longest-running squad in South Dakota between the ILB and the Expedition Leagues, in operation since 2018. The Expedition League also had the Hub City Hotshots for two seasons in Aberdeen and the Sioux Falls Sunfish in 2021 until the league ended.
Bob Habeger said he believes the Independence League is pretty strong and has a solid future. He said the league is looking closely at having a team in Rapid City in 2027, along with Mitchell, and potential teams in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Fort Collins, Colorado.
Another travel-only team in the league — the Capital City Aviators — is getting a similar treatment as the Bison in Mitchell, laying the groundwork for a potential full franchise in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
"If we can expand it to Mitchell, the teams that are in it are strong," Habeger said. "It's going to take the community, to see what kind of support we're going to have on Saturday night. I feel positive about it."
The Bison squad is primarily comprised of players looking for collegiate exposure over a three-week period in July playing wood-bat baseball, with food and lodging included, chartered bus trips and players paying a one-time fee to participate.
Most of the players are either coming off their first or second year of college baseball, playing at small universities or community colleges around the country. The Bison roster so far this season includes players from NCAA Division II and Division III schools and NAIA institutions.
The ILB is not the first collegiate summer wood-bat league to flirt with coming to Mitchell. In 2017, the Northwoods League pursued putting a team in Mitchell, seeking the rights to use Drake Field for 40 games in the summer and exclusive concession and signage rights at the field. The league had a five-year option agreement but never ended up placing a team in Mitchell.
It also unanimously approved Huron for an affiliate team but neither squad ever got off the ground and since then, the Northwoods League has added more teams on its eastern edge in Michigan and Indiana rather than in the Dakotas. One notable addition, the Badlands Big Sticks in Dickinson, North Dakota, jumped from ILB in 2023 to the Northwoods League in 2024.
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If those in charge of the Bison Baseball Club have their way, they'll be back again in 2027 for a full season. Team leaders said they hope to have the Palace City Bison on the diamond to play home games in Mitchell.
Independence League Baseball is bringing two teams to Cadwell Park on Saturday, July 11 for a regular-season game. That will involve the Pierre-based Oahe Zap and its sister club, the traveling squad that is the Bison Baseball club.
Bob Habeger, a co-owner of the two baseball teams, said the intention is to have a full-season team in Mitchell in 2027. He was meeting with Mitchell city leaders on Tuesday to discuss a potential contract to use Cadwell Park for the 2027 season.
"We're working with the city and talking with the Palace City Baseball Association," Habeger said. "We bought the Gem City Bison two years ago and were looking to move the franchise to South Dakota. We've been looking for different fits."
The game is at 6 p.m. Saturday at Cadwell Park. Tickets are currently being sold on the Oahe Zap website for $5.
Habeger has owned the Gem City Bison since 2024, and the franchise has been an off-and-on franchise in the ILB since their creation in 2022. It played in Laramie, Wyoming as the Gem City Bison for a season before halting operations in 2023.
Habeger said he's been encouraged by his conversations with Mitchell residents and business leaders over the last week since the one-off Mitchell game was first lined up.
"We've met the right people here," Habeger said. "We've gotten some great input and feedback about placing the team here. I think it's been very positive so far."
Habeger, who is from Ramona, South Dakota, got involved with baseball in 2022 when the Oahe Zap was formed after the Pierre Trappers and the Expedition League they were playing in folded. His son, Jamy Habeger, also owns the Zap and is the team's head coach, and was previously the Trappers' coach for a few years.
"The Expedition League folded, he was coaching it in Pierre," Bob Habeger said. "They were looking to replace it and that's where the Oahe Zap came in and where we came in."
The Bison have been a traveling-only baseball club since Habeger got involved. In 2024, the team was 2-17 in its 19 road games played over three weeks in July. The Bison were 1-16 in 2025, playing all road games once again.
In 2026, it will serve to give the other three full-time franchises in the league more home games: the Casper Spuds, the Oahe Zap and the Spearfish Sasquatch. It will play Oahe nine times in the month of July, with eight of those games in Pierre, plus five games in Casper, Wyoming and six games in Spearfish. The Bison started their 2026 season with a 1-1 record, splitting two games in Pierre.
The Zap have been in Pierre since 2023, replacing the Pierre Trappers after the Expedition League folded in 2022. Spearfish's team is the longest-running squad in South Dakota between the ILB and the Expedition Leagues, in operation since 2018. The Expedition League also had the Hub City Hotshots for two seasons in Aberdeen and the Sioux Falls Sunfish in 2021 until the league ended.
Bob Habeger said he believes the Independence League is pretty strong and has a solid future. He said the league is looking closely at having a team in Rapid City in 2027, along with Mitchell, and potential teams in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Fort Collins, Colorado.
Another travel-only team in the league — the Capital City Aviators — is getting a similar treatment as the Bison in Mitchell, laying the groundwork for a potential full franchise in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
"If we can expand it to Mitchell, the teams that are in it are strong," Habeger said. "It's going to take the community, to see what kind of support we're going to have on Saturday night. I feel positive about it."
The Bison squad is primarily comprised of players looking for collegiate exposure over a three-week period in July playing wood-bat baseball, with food and lodging included, chartered bus trips and players paying a one-time fee to participate.
Most of the players are either coming off their first or second year of college baseball, playing at small universities or community colleges around the country. The Bison roster so far this season includes players from NCAA Division II and Division III schools and NAIA institutions.
The ILB is not the first collegiate summer wood-bat league to flirt with coming to Mitchell. In 2017, the Northwoods League pursued putting a team in Mitchell, seeking the rights to use Drake Field for 40 games in the summer and exclusive concession and signage rights at the field. The league had a five-year option agreement but never ended up placing a team in Mitchell.
It also unanimously approved Huron for an affiliate team but neither squad ever got off the ground and since then, the Northwoods League has added more teams on its eastern edge in Michigan and Indiana rather than in the Dakotas. One notable addition, the Badlands Big Sticks in Dickinson, North Dakota, jumped from ILB in 2023 to the Northwoods League in 2024.
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