St. Clairsville set to open tourney

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St. Clairsville's quest for a berth in the state American Legion baseball tournament begins today in Beverly.

No, not Hills. Unless you count the rolling hills of southeastern Ohio.

Post 159 will take a fine 21-5 mark into the four-team District 11

fray when it meets Cambridge at 12:30 p.m. on the Fort Frye High School diamond. A win would propel St. C. (21-5) into the winner's bracket final, which would be played at 12:30 Sunday afternoon. However, a loss would send the local squad into the loser's bracket, and a 4 p.m. Sunday contest.

Zanesville and host Beverly-Lowell meet in the 4 p.m. game today.

"One of our goals was to take this team to the next level," said Post 159 manager Bruce Myers. "I told that I can wish that all I want, but it's up to them to get us there."

St. Clairsville had its 12-game win streak halted recently with an 8-7 setback at Zanesville, but Myers said that loss doesn't bother him.

"I feel the kids will be ready to play this weekend," he added. "They know what is at stake."

At stake is a berth in the annual state tournament at Ohio University's fine facilities in Athens. The event begins Aug. 4, with the survivor punching their ticket to the Great Lakes Regional.

"Like I've said all season, these kids get along so well," Myers continued. "They were rivals in high school, especially the Bellaire and St. Clairsville kids. But everyone has come together and we are clicking right now. In fact, I know that the guys get together and do stuff off the field."

The roster is comprised of players from the aforementioned two schools, along with Barnesville and Bridgeport.

In winning 21 of its 26 contests - at least a dozen games were wiped out by Mother Nature and most of them were scheduled for Memorial Park - St. C. used a balanced and powerful offensive attack, combined with some fine pitching.

"Our key is that we played a lot of five-inning games, thus we didn't need to use more than one pitcher a lot of times," Myers offered. "We didn't need a lot of arms."

When they did however, they got fine performances out of righthanders Travis Stephens (Barnesville) and Nick Rocchio (Bellaire). Stephens is a spotless 6-0 and is penciled in as Game Two's starter. Rocchio, who also plays quarterback for the West Liberty State College football team, has logged a 4-1 mark and will toe the rubber today.

Dan Slavik (St. Clairsville), another righty, sports a 2-1 mark.

Leading the high-powered offensive output is recent St. Clairsville grad Dustin Hynes. The talented catcher, who will also attend WLSC on a football scholarship, has a team-high seven home runs and an even .500 batting average.

Rocchio, who is a four-year member of Post 159s summer team and plays shortstop when not on the mound, leads the team with a sizzling .540 mark that includes four homers. Ian Riddell (a 2007 St. C. grad) hits at a .393 clip. The centerfielder is one long ball behind Hynes. Slavik checks in at .390 and holds down second base when not hurling.

Left fielder Brody Call (St. Clairsville) leads a group of another four players who are hitting above .300. He has a .359 mark, 19 points higher than Chad Stephen (Barnesville), and has socked a trio of home runs. Layne Mehl (St. Clairsville) and Stephens hit .329 and .313, respectively.

"Brody is our leadoff hitter," added Myers. "He's lightning quick. And Chad (Stephen) can play everywhere, as can Layne (Mehl) and Ryan Kreiter, Timmy Smith and Ryan Jarvie. That's another good thing about these kids. They'll play wherever they are needed."

Kreiter and Smith are from Bridgeport and Jarvie from St. Clairsville.

Also on the team are Anthony Rocchio and Tyler Rose (Bellaire), Tyler Armentrout (St. Clairsville) and Michael Muklewlicz (Bridgeport).

North can be reached at knorth@timesleaderonline.com