Courtesy of THE MELVILLE ADVANCE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011

The Western Major Baseball League’s Melville Millionaires have been busy on the contract front.

According to team governor Jeff Bouvier, the Millionaires have inked four players for the upcoming campaign and are currently in the process of filling out their roster.

“We still have a few pieces of the puzzle left, but we’re way ahead of where we were last year at the same time as far as signings go,” admits Bouvier.

The quicker the Mils can flesh out the roster, the more time they’ll have to deal with other aspects of running a WMBL franchise.

“I think it’s extremely important to get the roster in place,” Bouvier says. “It will give us a chance to focus on other issues, be it at the ballpark or off-field.”

Former assistant coach Scott Mansfield has been looking after some of the scouting for the Melville club and these players come to the Millionaires through Northern Oklahoma College-Enid which is Mansfield’s new coaching beat.

Infielder Jacob Inbody is a corner infielder expected to provide some pop at the plate for the Blue and White.

The sophomore, born and raised in Bixby, Okla. is currently hitting at a .265 clip with 15 runs and 17 RBI. Last season he ended the campaign with a .390 average, 45 runs, 51 RBI and seven round-trippers.

Austin Pfeiffer is a middle infielder and right-handed hurler who will probably see some bullpen duty with the Mils.

The six-foot, four-inch freshman from Benton, Ark. is currently 0-1 over eight innings and has compiled 11 strikeouts.

He’s also batting .314 with 20 RBI and was an All-State player in his senior year of high school.

Two right-handed pitchers from Corpus Christi, Texas round out the latest signings with Garrett Kelly and Hayden James both joining the team.

James is 0-2 over nine innings and has a 3.86 ERA while Kelly is 2-2 with 16 K’s over 33 innings.

The Millionaires have already been approved to sell beer at the ballpark, now it’s just a matter of making the determination of where it will be sold and consumed.

“We’re in the process of getting everything ironed out. We still haven’t decided if we’ll use the whole ballpark or just have a designated area,” he explains. “We have to figure out how it would best suit our needs.”

As for the Home and Leisure Lotto, Bouvier feels the club is on a similar pace to last year, which would spell some financial success for the club.

“We’ve had great support from the community and we really appreciate the community getting behind the team.”