There are five new baseball coaches in the Northern 4A this season. 

 At the other end of the spectrum, Galena coach Ron McNutt got his 700th career win Monday. 

The Grizzlies coach was just as happy with the ’W’ Monday as he was with his first, as his squad came back from a 4-0 deficit to beat Bishop Manogue, 6-5.

“I guess it means, when you play a lot of games eventually you might get there,” McNutt said. “Is it special? Well, yeah.”

Teams from around the area started league play today in rainy and windy conditions. Despite the arrival of new coaches, the league season begins without a clear frontrunner.

Galena and Bishop Manogue showed early on why they have to be considered two of the top teams, as both return players of the year: Bishop Manogue has Sierra League player of the year Sean Deweese; Galena (3-2) has Sierra League pitcher of the year Jace Puckett.

Both players were starting pitchers Monday, and it appeared Deweese and the Miners were en route to their first league win of the season.

But despite a 4-0 lead in the fourth, Galena scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take a 6-5 lead.

Beau Cullen, who had an RBI double in the fourth to give his team its second run of the game, came in and closed out the Miners in order in the seventh to secure the win.

“To come back when you’re down like we did and still battle, it shows a lot of character in our kids,” McNutt said. “They stayed together and got some clutch hits when we needed them.”

Bishop Manogue (3-2) got a leadoff single from Connor Thompson in the first inning and he scored on a fielder’s choice. The big thunder came when 6-foot-2, 230-pound sophomore Kyle Pruneau launched a two-run home run in the third that gave the Miners a 3-0 lead.

Shortstop Sean-Luke Brija added a sac fly in the fourth.

Deweese was cruising through three innings and gave up just two hits, but Galena came back with an RBI single by Cole Fenner, a two-run home run by Ryan Ford and runs by Jorge Medina and Alex Barajas off a fielder’s choice and a balk to take the lead.

“It’s a tough loss. We gave that game away,” Bishop Manogue coach Charles Oppio said. “They’re a good team. They don’t need any help from us.”

The two teams return to action at Bishop Manogue on Thursday, which is the norm now that teams only play each other twice in back-to-back games.