Batting helmets? Check. Bats? Check.

Uniforms and a full contingent of players to fit into them?

Well, not yet.

St. Joseph Mustangs manager Matt Johnson took inventory Wednesday of all the new equipment for the first-year summer college wood-bat team. The uniforms should arrive at Phil Welch Stadium any day now, and although the players are supposed to report to their host families Monday night, a few of those uniforms will go unfilled for the first week or two of the season.

Players are to report to Phil Welch Stadium on Tuesday for a 9 a.m. meeting, with a team stretch scheduled at 10 a.m. But playoffs and late-running college classes will keep more than a half dozen Mustangs from reporting on time.

“We’ll be missing (Kevin) Wempe and (Austin) Anderson of Emporia State,” Johnson said, referring to the right-handed pitcher and third baseman of the South Central Regional champion Hornets. Emporia State advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series and will begin play today against Grand Valley State at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

Also missing will be Brent Seifert and Rob Lind, a pair of infielders who helped lead Iowa Western to the NJCAA Division I World Series, which gets under way today in Grand Junction, Colo.

David Turnbull, a freshman outfielder at Dartmouth, will be tied up with classes and unable to join the Mustangs until around June 14 — the same time Ross Brayton, the catcher from Cal-Poly, will arrive in St. Joseph.

The date of arrival of Garrison McLagan, an outfielder for the University of Missouri, remains in doubt, since the Tigers are involved in this week’s Big 12 Championships, with an NCAA regional berth still a possibility.

Even the team’s newest player will be a late arrival. Johnson recently signed right-handed pitcher Travis Clifton of Hartnell College in California as a replacement for Eastern Illinois right-hander Scott Foley.

Clifton, 4-3 with a 3.67 earned run average as a starting pitcher for the Panthers, has a fastball approaching 90 miles per hour. He struck out 57 batters in 54 innings this season.

Johnson said he expects to use the Monterey, Calif., native as a reliever this summer. However, Clifton will be in college classes through the first week of June.

Foley was released from his Mustangs contract after he developed arm trouble and decided to sit out the summer.

The Mustangs open their season May 28 at home against the Omaha Diamond Spirit. Their MINK League home opener will be at 7 p.m. on June 5 against the Chillicothe Mudcats.

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com