Thursday, June 18, 2009
Post 68 off to a high-octane start
The team, under a new coach, won the first two of 13 games scheduled before the district tournament.
MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times
Pitcher Mark Manthe of Blacksburg is a returning player to the New River Valley Post 68 team. As a result of a severe beaning he took as a member of a travel team, Manthe missed most of last year's Post 68 season and, after a subsequent knee surgery, didn't return to the field until high school season this spring.
The Roanoke Times | File March
Eric Houff, shown during practice at Blacksburg High School this spring, is one of the players on the New River Valley Post 68 American Legion baseball team. Houff led the team last year with a .514 average.
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
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Ray Cox
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The American Legion baseball season just under way for the New River Valley Post 68 team can be thought of in long-haul trucking terms.
There's a long way to go and short time to get there.
One month is all that is allotted to complete the regular season leading up to the district tournament at Kiwanis Field in mid-July. With a mere 13 games on the slate, there's no room for rainouts, much less errors.
After much deliberation at the national and state levels, the schedule has been moved up two weeks to avoid the scheduling conflicts in August brought on by college players having to return to campus and high school football players having to report to practice.
Post 68 has to hope 13 won't be an unlucky number of games. So far, so good. As the regular season opened last weekend, the veteran New River Valley group plastered Roanoke 13-6 and buried Salem 17-3.
That kind of high-octane start has tended to ease the transition to a new coaching administration.
Former assistant coach Greg Dudding moved up to the top spot after longtime coach Danny Evans retired in the wake of a cancer battle in winter. The cancer has been treated successfully, but it took a lot out of Evans, who had been threatening to retire for several seasons before this one.
"Greg will do a good job," he said. "I'm still going to be around, just not on the field. I'll be the team's business manager."
Dudding got into it when son J.D. was a player. The son's eligibility expired, but the father kept on coaching.
"We have a good team," Greg Dudding said. "I expect us to be a contender for the district championship."
With 11 of 18 players back from a team that went 14-2 during last year's regular season, Dudding has the athletes to accomplish the team's objectives. The trick will be to approximate last year's regular season production while finding a way to close the deal in the tournament that runs July 17-22.
Post 68 again failed to make it out of the tournament last year. The team has never advanced to the state tournament.
That was a bitter fate for a unit that hit a collective .379 and pitched to a 2.14 earned run average.
Most of the starting lineup returns intact. The pitching staff has less of a veteran cast with three members being newcomers. All three will be on the starting staff with veteran left-hander James Woods of Radford working with rookies Seth Martin of Christiansburg, another lefty, and Shane Woodrum of Pulaski County.
Technically, pitcher Mark Manthe of Blacksburg is a returning player, as is Woodrum. Neither completed the season, Manthe as a result of a severe beaning he took as a member of a travel team. He missed the rest of the Legion season and, after a subsequent knee surgery, didn't return to the field until high school season this spring.
Manthe is coming off a big senior season at Blacksburg. Woodrum hasn't played since last year.
Coming out of the bullpen, Zach Atkins and Devin Smith both bring a season's worth of college baseball experience to the mound. Both will be everyday players, too, Atkins at shortstop and Smith in right field.
Elsewhere in the starting lineup, Nate Hiner of Christiansburg and Tyler Matusevich of Pulaski County are interchangeable at catcher and first base.
Also in the infield are Pulaski Countians Ben Eads at third and Zach Chrisley at second. Rounding out the starting outfield are Kelly Kline of Wytheville in center and Eric Houff of Blacksburg in left. That's three quality bats in the outfield. Houff led the team last year with a .514 average, Smith hit .455, and Kline stroked it at a .395 clip.
Up and down the lineup, nobody hit worse than .333 last year.
Rounding out the team are outfielder Corey Lowe of Narrows; shortstop Brett Grimes of George Wythe; second baseman Andrew Eppling of Giles; outfielder Dustin Shelley of Pulaski County; and infielder Rickey Sowers of Blacksburg.
