MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With the start of the American Legion season beginning Friday at the WAJR Wood Bat Classic at Mylan Park, Morgantown Post 2 coach Tyler Barnette is bringing the pop from Morgantown High with him.
With a finalized roster that includes nine from MHS, seven from University and one from Notre Dame, a private school in Clarksburg, Post 2 will feature a trio that put up major power numbers for the Mohigans this season.
Quintin Smith hit 11 home runs, while Caleb Taylor hit nine, each breaking the previous school record of eight that was set in 2000. Not far behind was Devon Neal, who hit seven homers for MHS.
That power at the top of the order is something that has Neal excited, but he doesn’t think anyone should look over the rest of the lineup.
“For us, it’s our biggest strength behind our talented defense this summer,” said Neal, who should be the starting third baseman for Post 2. “For other teams to have to deal with us and our lineup is going to be a struggle. Just like with MHS, we have our top five, and we also add guys from UHS like Casey and Evan Smith — guys like Clay Maholic.
“That’s a darn good group of hitting.”
Barnette knows this is a veteran group that takes advantage of situations and will make pitchers pay if they make mistakes.
“This is definitely a special group,” he said.
Just three weeks ago on May 16, MHS eliminated UHS in the sectional championship before the Mohigans met a disappointing end in the regional championship against Wheeling Park.
But now, many will become teammates for the next two months.
“I’m sure we all left that at the door as soon as we stepped on that field this passed Tuesday all wearing the Post 2 baseball across our chests,” Neal said. “We’ve been together all offseason in the weight room and on the turf working to get better. No matter what team we are on in the spring, we all come together and have to same mindset come May. Our goal this year is to win and lose as one and not break up any bonds made and make a state tournament run.”
Like the offense, Post 2’s starting rotation and bullpen have a lot of experience with the likes of Taylor, the Smith twins, Gavin Cottle, Colton Matthews, Charlie Petty and Matt Renner.
What Barnette likes most is that this group throws strikes and relies on the defense behind them to make plays.
“It’s one of those things where you have a bunch of kids that throw strikes,” he said. “It’s something that we rely on and one of those things where if you throw strikes on the first and second pitch, you’re going to be able to go the whole game. If you can go the whole game, then your arms don’t get tired. These guys know that you don’t need to strikeout out everyone — you can pitch to contact and let this defense make plays for you.”
Post 2 will open its season at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Elkins at Mylan Park in the Wood Bat Classic. It will play Romney at 4 p.m. Saturday, followed by another against Uniontown (Pa.) at 7 p.m.
Another doubleheader is set for Sunday with the first game against Smithfield (Pa.) at 4 p.m. followed by another with Cumberland (Md.) at 7 p.m.
“This is a tournament that I would really like to expand in the future,” Barnette said. “We’ve started the last few years with Wheeling, and it’s almost a guarantee that one of us is going to be affected by the state tournament. We decided to switch it up this year and starting with this tournament is great.”
Twitter @SeanManning_DP
