The Hawaii Island Movers opens their 22nd season of summer baseball Tuesday at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Movers, composed of college and recent high school graduates, will play a five-game series against the Hawai'i All-Stars Tuesday to Thursday. Doubleheaders will be played Tuesday and Thursday with games starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday's game starts at 6 p.m.

Keeping with tradition, the Movers will travel to Japan, June 24 to July 14. They will play games at Sapporo, Nagoya and Osaka. They continue home games from July 20. To cap the season, the Movers will host an international tournament, Aug. 3 to 6, with teams from Guam, Hiroshima and Kansai.

Some of the recent high school graduates playing are pitchers Wally Marciel (Iolani) and Cameron Bayne (Saint Louis). Both were selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft several weeks ago. Marciel, who has signed with Kansas, was picked by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 36th round and Bayne by the Cincinnati Reds in the 49th round.

Also playing is shortstop Troy Hanzawa, a former Hawai'i Rainbow who transferred to Yavapai, which was runner-up in the NJCAA World Series. Hanzawa, who will be a junior in eligibility, has signed to play at San Diego State this coming season.

Not all of the players will travel to Japan. Some are only available for the home dates.

Coaches of the Movers are Richard Olsen, Les Loo, Randy Yamashiro, Galen Kitamura, Gregg Omori and Ryan Yamamoto.

The Movers are an independent summer program. They originally competed in the Alaska Baseball League, when their intention was to develop UH players. But in 1992, the NCAA limited the number of players a college could play on a summer team. Still, the Movers continued, not just as a vehicle to play baseball, but to educate, hence the annual trips to Japan and the foreign teams coming here for the international tournament.