MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The American Legion baseball season starts each summer with over 3,500 teams vying to advance to the regional tournament stage — just 1.8 percent of those clubs even make it that far.
For the Morgantown Post 2 baseball team, its last appearance came in 2009. In that last appearance, it was named the host site and narrowly missed advancing to the American Legion World Series.
Post 2 returns to the Mid-Atlantic regional today, which is hosted this season at McCrary Park in Asheboro, N.C. — following a decade-long drought. Post 2 manager Tyler Barnette, who was a player for the club during the 2009 run, is ecstatic to return with his own group of players.
“It’s good to have that experience, but it’s completely different when you’re on the other side of the lineup card,” he said. “These kids brought us back. They’ve busted their butts for three years on end and have represented the program well. It’s time to represent the state now.”
Morgantown will open the double-elimination tournament against Delaware state champion Canal Post 25 at 9:30 a.m. A loss will place the team in a loser-goes-home matchup Thursday morning against the loser of Wilmington (N.C.) and Funkstown (Md.). A win will advance them to face the winner Thursday evening.
Also competing are state champions Vienna (Va.), Hamburg (N.Y.) and Brooklawn (N.J.), as well as host Randolph County (N.C.) — which will host following back-to-back American Legion World Series appearances.
“This game is going to come down to whoever makes the least amount of mistakes,” Barnette said. “It’s postseason play now and you have to come out with a certain type of intensity. All these teams earned their way here just like us.”
