The Chieftains hoped to get back on the diamond to redeem themselves Monday at home against Santa Fe Trail but weekend storms with more rain Monday made that impossible.

Now they have to wait until Thursday to reclaim the swagger they had prior to dropping a 6-0 home game to Turner and a 20-10 road loss at St. James Academy.

However, Tonganoxie can wrap redemption and revenge into one three-day weekend at the Butch Foster Memorial Baseball Classic Thursday through Saturday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, the home of the Kansas City T-Bones.

THS (8-2) aims to snap out of its recent funk by opening the tournament at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with the team that knocked it out of last year’s classic, Spring Hill. Perhaps just as enticing, Tonganoxie could get a rematch with St. James in the tourney final Saturday night.

First things first, though, coach Phil Loomis said.

“I think most of the guys would much rather take it out on Spring Hill than look forward to St. James,” Loomis said.

Although SHHS did put THS in the consolation bracket in 2008 with a 7-3 win, that wound from the Thunder’s five-inning, mercy-rule win on April 22 is scabbing at best. With SJA on the opposite side of the bracket, senior THS utility man Blaize Oelschlaeger couldn’t help but look a little ahead.

“We definitely need a rematch to redeem ourselves,” Oelschlaeger said. “We came out and we did not show our potential at all (in the loss).”

Fellow senior Rob Schlicht didn’t want to get caught looking past the first two rounds either, but admitted the Chieftains would like another shot at the Thunder.

“It would be nice to play them on a neutral field and see where it goes from there,” he said with diplomacy.

Despite recent setbacks, the Chieftains undoubtedly are gunning for a title at the classic this weekend. But with a washout on Monday, the Chieftains will have gone eight days without live action by the time they play Thursday night at CommunityAmerica.

Smiling, Loomis said “that’s just spring sports in Kansas.” Although such a break could prove difficult, with some extra practice time maybe it is just the thing the team needed.

“I think we’ll be all right,” Oelschlaeger said. “We’ve just got to come out there with our heads up and stay confident.”

Coming off back-to-back losses, confidence should be crucial. Especially on defense, which Schlicht said would be the key to a three-win weekend in Kansas City, Kan. Oelschlaeger noted the lack of good glove work this past week “killed us.” Now, Loomis said, the players have to respond.

“We found out that if we don’t play well — no matter who we play — we don’t have the power to just outman people,” the coach said.

The best thing about this tournament, Loomis added, is that it’s a lot like regionals — just less than three weeks away. There are no terrible teams at the classic. No dominant teams. The title is truly up for grabs, and three wins will do it.

What’s more, three wins will get THS back on route to what the players and coaches hope is a season-long road to the state tournament.

Tonganoxie will play either Holton or Bonner Springs on Friday at the classic. On the other side of the bracket, St. James opens with Perry-Lecompton (noon Thursday) and Basehor-Linwood faces Paola (2:30 p.m. Thursday).