Published: June 27, 2008 12:17 am            

BASEBALL: Legion ball is back

Every summer, tens of thousands of players throughout the United States play on American Legion Baseball teams.

However, for the past several years, Southern Indiana has not had a Legion squad.

That has changed this summer.

American Legion Post 42 in Floyds Knobs is sponsoring a Southern Indiana team this season, making it the first Legion team in the area since the early 1990s. The team is made up of boys ages 16-19, with most of them coming from the Clark-Floyd area. Post 42 plays its home games at Clarksville High School’s Wayne Stock Field.

Floyd County residents Dewaine Evanczyk and Jaime Knight created the Legion team earlier this year.

Evanczyk, whose sons Alex and Dillon play on the squad, said the purpose of the squad is to increase an area player’s chances of playing college baseball. Seventy-five percent of American Legion players go on to compete at the college level.

“(A Legion team) needed to come back because there is not a local opportunity for kids who aspire to play college baseball — and that’s what this is,” Evanczyk said. “This is a team that provides an opportunity for local kids in this part of Indiana. There are travel teams that kids can get on. But if they can’t afford it, they’re stuck. They might have just as much talent, but they’re stuck.

“American Legion is the perfect thing because nationally it’s the largest youth baseball program in the United States.”

Post 42 head coach Ricky Romans jumped at the chance to coach the new Legion squad.

“I was excited about it because I thought it was a no-brainer,” said Romans, the head baseball coach at Charlestown High School. “The level of competition in American Legion ball is obviously just a step up from high school. It’s a good opportunity for these kids to play against tougher competition and to get a small taste of what college ball would be like.”

Once the high school season ended, Romans started assembling the Legion team. First, he called several area high school coaches to see if any of their players would be interested.

Romans then convinced the majority of those players to come out for the team. Some of those players include Clarksville pitching standout T.J. Wilbert, recent Jeffersonville graduate Brian Mendenhall and Floyd Central product Ryan Knight.

Romans even influenced three of his Charlestown players to come out for the squad, who are Clayton Merschbrock, Tyler Rhodes and Damon Vest.

“A lot of the kids I talked to seemed to be really excited about this opportunity,” said Romans, whose team had a 3-4-2 record entering Thursday’s home game with the District V All-Stars. “They wanted a chance to keep playing and they wanted an opportunity and I think this provided that opportunity for them.

“We’ve got a very good team. I think we are without a doubt going to be very competitive all year long.”

One of the players to take advantage of this opportunity was Justin Manucci.

The 2007 Jeff High graduate hopes his American Legion experience will help earn him a walk-on spot on the Indiana University Southeast baseball squad next spring. Manucci is transferring to IU Southeast after attending Vincennes University last year.

“It was another chance I would get to play baseball again and maybe to sharpen my skills and walk-on at IUS,” Manucci said.

Teammate Jeffrey Schueler, who will be a senior at Providence next season, says playing Legion ball will help hone his skills.

“You get a chance to work on things that you need to work on,” Schueler said.

Romans said the competition is fierce in American Legion ball and it shows in his team’s schedule.

One of the formidable foes on Post 42’s slate is Rockport, which advanced to the American Legion World Series last year. Rockport defeated Post 42 on June 18, 18-11. The teams will play again Saturday at Clarksville.

“All in all, everybody is just a little more disciplined,” Romans said about the overall Legion competition. “The kids are a little bit more aware what’s going on. I think (his players) understand the level of competition is going to be greater. In turn, it’s going to help them get better.”

“You face better pitching. There are no blowouts,” Rhodes said.

Post 42 will play in a double-elimination sectional tournament in Seymour after the regular season. That tournament will include Legion teams from Seymour, Bedford and Batesville.

Evanczyk expects the Post 42 squad to not go away.

“My goal is to get this thing (going) and (prove) that it is not a one-and-done,” said Evanczyk, who plans on having team tryouts in the future. “We’re here to stay. We’re going to get local support.”



POST 42 ROSTER

No. Name High school Pos.

2 Jason Dome Providence OF

3 Brandon Manor Lakota East (Ohio) OF/C/P

4 Ryan Knight Floyd Central 3B/SS

5 Jeffrey Schueler Providence IF/P

6 Damon Vest Charlestown C

7 Jon Bramer Clarksville P/OF/1B

8 Michael Manning Madison IF/OF

9 Alex Evanczyk Providence IF/P

10 Taylor Stone Henryville IF/P

11 Dillon Evanczyk Providence IF/P

12 Tyler Rhodes Charlestown IF

14 T.J. Wilbert Clarksville P/OF

15 Daniel Slatterly Clarksville C/OF

16 Terrell Boyd Southwestern OF

17 Todd Harbin New Washington P

18 Derick McNew Clarksville 1B/P/OF

19 Brian Mendenhall Jeffersonville OF/3B/1B

20 Justin Manucci Jeffersonville P/1B

21 Clayton Merschbrock Charlestown 1B

Head coach: Ricky Romans

Assistant coaches: Brian James, Doc Boyd

Co-general managers: Dewaine Evanczyk, Jaime Knight



POST 42’S REMAINING SCHEDULE

June 28 Rockport 2 p.m.

July 1 District V All-Stars 5:30 p.m.

July 4 at Boonville (DH) 2 p.m.

July 6 Owensboro, Ky. (DH) 5 p.m.

July 8 Pleasure Ridge Park 5:30 p.m.

July 12 at Owensboro, Ky. (DH) 1 p.m.

July 13 at Oldham County, Ky. 2 p.m.

July 15 at Bedford 6 p.m.

July 22 Bedford 6 p.m.

July 25-26 Sectional at Seymour TBA

Note: Post 42 plays its home games at Clarksville High School’s Wayne Stock Field.

        

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