The Twin Falls AA Cowboys American Legion baseball team is taking its summer show on the road — again — with an eye toward building the kind of experience that pays dividends when Idaho competition gets serious later in the season.
Head coach Tim Stadelmeir has made out-of-state travel a cornerstone of the Cowboys’ summer program, scheduling two trips per year to expose his players to different facilities, opposing lineups, and competitive environments they simply cannot replicate by staying in the Magic Valley. The destinations have ranged widely over the years — California, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota, Montana, and even Canada have all been stops on the Cowboys’ summer itinerary.
The 2026 summer edition is no different. The first of those two annual trips takes the Cowboys to Bend, Oregon, where an 18-team tournament awaits. Twin Falls will face a trio of Oregon programs and has a realistic path to the semifinals if the bats stay warm and the pitching holds. Several other Idaho teams have also made the trip west, including El Paso champion Owyhee, which is also fielding a squad in the Bend bracket.
Bus Rides, Card Games, and Team Chemistry
For Stadelmeir, the wins and losses in Bend are largely secondary to what the long haul across state lines does for a roster still learning how to function as a unit. Six members of the current Cowboys squad recently finished their careers at Twin Falls High School, closing out one chapter of their baseball lives and beginning another. Getting those players — and the rest of the roster — to mesh before the Legion season heats up in Idaho is a deliberate part of the coaching strategy.
“Those guys have got to ride on the bus for over seven hours and hope that the air conditioning works,” Stadelmeir said. “They play cards, they play games. It’s good for continuity.”
That continuity is not just a coaching buzzword. The Cowboys opened their season on June 1 with a pair of victories over the Minico Storm AA 18U squad, giving the program an early confidence boost before the more demanding out-of-state slate arrived. But Stadelmeir views the Oregon trip and a second planned excursion later this summer as opportunities to reset the competitive baseline — to force young players outside the comfortable rhythms of home.
“It’s good for them to get away from their normal routine,” Stadelmeir said. “It is all out the window.”
A Program Built on State-Level Success
The Cowboys’ summer travel program exists within a broader tradition of excellence at Twin Falls High School that stretches back roughly 24 years. The Bruins have reached the state tournament in every one of Stadelmeir’s seasons at the helm, collecting three state titles during that stretch. The program has long been considered the standard against which other southern Idaho programs measure themselves.
In that context, the Cowboys are not heading to Oregon chasing a Bend tournament trophy. While winning would certainly be welcome, the primary goal — as it has been during past summer trips to California, Nevada, and even Omaha, Nebraska, where the Cowboys played four games during the 2024 NCPA Men’s College World Series against opponents from Nevada, Wyoming, and Minnesota — is preparation.
Competing against teams whose styles, facilities, and pace of play differ from what Idaho offers gives the Cowboys a more complete picture of where they stand before Legion and varsity competition becomes the sole focus. Stadelmeir has described the trips as crucial for building diversity in the competitive experience his players carry into higher-stakes Idaho matchups.
For a roster that includes a wave of newly graduated seniors whose high school careers just ended, the trip to Oregon also serves as a reintroduction to the grind — long bus rides, unfamiliar fields, and a chance to play together for reasons larger than any one tournament bracket.
What Comes Next
After the Bend tournament concludes, the Cowboys will return to Twin Falls before their second out-of-state trip later this summer. Idaho Legion competition, where the program’s real championship goals lie, will intensify as the calendar moves through July. Stadelmeir and the Cowboys will be watching how the lessons learned in Oregon translate when the games matter most for Idaho glory.