MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown Post 2 rattled off a 25-6 record in the regular season to earn the top seed in the Area 2 American Legion Baseball tournament, but rather than hosting at Mylan Park, Post 2 will make Frank Loria Field in Nutter Fort its home.
With MountainFest Motorcycle Rally rolling into town this weekend, Mylan Park will play host to different events for it, so Post 2 had to come up with an alternate plan.
“With the Area being in rotation every year, everybody gets a chance to host, but we haven’t had a chance in a while because of MountainFest,” manager Tyler Barnette said. “Whenever it was our chance again, we took the best available opportunity and we’re going to play it on a great field down in Nutter Fort.”
As the top seed, Post 2 earned the 7 p.m. time slot, opposed to the early 4 p.m. game, so there will be more travel time and game prep. Having to make the 45-minute drive is made easier playing later in the day.
“The negative is that you don’t get to play on your home field, but I trust these guys to get the job done no matter where we play,” Barnette said.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Morgantown this season. After a 17-1 start, it went 3-4 in its next seven games and appeared to hit a midsummer skid that Barnette knew needed to be remedied before the postseason.
Since then, Post 2’s gotten back on track, winning five of its final six games, but that doesn’t ease the nerves of the manager.
“We have four really good teams in this area and with one slip up, we’re playing in the losers bracket,” Barnette said. “The past few days have been trying to get these guys mentally prepared for the postseason. Your backs are against the wall the whole time until you’re in the driver’s seat, so it’s their job to get up and put themselves in that driver’s seat as early as possible.”
Barnette doesn’t have an exact plan with how he will handle his starting rotation — he believes he has five or six guys who can all do the job under pressure. Colton Matthews leads the team in wins with a record of 6-1 and has a 2.55 ERA. Casey Smith, Evan Smith, Caleb Taylor, Matt Renner and Reed Bailey are all options to get the ball on the mound.
Morgantown will take on Clarksburg in the 1-4 game to open play at 7 p.m. today, while Fairmont and Bridgeport will play the 2-3 game at 4 p.m. In the double elimination format, the winners will play at 7 p.m. Friday, while the losers will play at 4 p.m.
In two meetings against Clarksburg — the last on June 27 — Post 2 is 2-0, including a 15-2 blowout.
