If you sit close enough to the Post 2 dugout at Mylan Park on a game night, you’ll quickly learn there’s very little quiet about this team.
If a batter is at the plate for Morgantown, you’d best believe he has 17 of his teammates cheering him on the side.
As Post 2 hosted Fairmont on Tuesday evening, one of the common shouts of encouragement from their dugout was “Nobody better, nobody better.”
When you watched the team string together two consecutive three-run innings en route to an 8-2 win over their opponent, it was hard to disagree.
“A lot of things make a team special, but I think with us it goes back to the fact that 18 guys have collectively adopted a mindset and a common goal,” Post 2 coach Tyler Barnette said following the Tuesday evening victory.
“They’re not going to let anybody stop them from obtaining that goal. Day in and day out, if you know what you want to do, it’s going to be hard to stop.”
The action opened up with a rough start for Morgantown, as its usually-reliable bats were ice cold, stagnating their offense through the first three innings.
It was in the fourth, though, that Post 2 displayed their trademark resiliency at the plate, adapting to Fairmont’s pitching to drive home three runs and take a commanding lead.
“It took us a little bit to get started, but then we made some adjustments and got ourselves back in the game,” Barnette said.
Once in front, Post 2 showed no signs of slowing down adding another three runs to the scoreboard in the fifth before finishing with a pair in the sixth.
“It’s just these guys making adjustments; making in-game adjustments,” Barnette said. “You saw it was rough those first three innings, and that’s when they made adjustments.”
If anything, the performance further proved two facts that fans of the club have become well acquainted with over the past month; Post 2 doesn’t give up easily, and they sure know how to hit a baseball.
“They’ve adopted this mindset and they’ve made it a focus to establish themselves as a talented hitting team,” Barnette said.
Devon Neal, who recorded a home run and contributed to five Post 2 runs Tuesday (three runs, two RBIs), attributed credit for the team’s hitting success this summer to the coaching staff taking the time to develop the team at the plate.
“Our assistant J.T. Heenan he works with us all the time on our approaches and red lights and green lights,” he said. “Without him, I don’t know if we’d be hitting the ball as well. J.T. has a big impact on it.”
Cam Stoldt, who earned the win on the mound against Fairmont while recording two hits at the plate, talked about the different approach he and the team have taken in regards to hitting this season.
“Like Devon said, our approaches have changed a lot, but also how we look at the game,” he said.
“The perspective from which we’re being coached is different in years past, and in a way that’s having a positive impact. Now we go up to the plate with all the confidence in the world.”
