WHEELING — Last season, St. Clairsville Post 159 became the first local team in the history of the Edgar Martin Beast of the East Baseball Tournament to win the 19U age bracket.

It was a memorable moment to a tournament that has been full of them through the years. Thursday marks start of the 29th edition of the annual summer classic at 30 fields across Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

“It is a busy week, but it’s a fun week,” Beast of the East co-director Bo McConnaughy said. “We don’t know a lot about some of these teams, but this is a tournament that has always been very competitive and we expect that to be the same this year.

“We have a lot of new teams, but also some teams that have been coming for years.”

Fourteen states, as well as teams from Canada, comprise the field of 130 teams in four different age classes. Unfortunately, that number is less than normal.

With the Fourth of July falling on a Tuesday and the tournament being held a week earlier, as well as injuries to players sustained in other sports, nearly 30 teams have dropped out.

“Some teams go to tournaments the week before ours, and when we switched the weeks, that took them out of the mix,” co-director B.A. Crawford said. “Our biggest loss was in the 12U division where we have 14 teams and normally have 28. But that is how it goes sometimes. We are going to be OK and there is still going to be a lot of good baseball being played this week.”

Add in a weather forecast that shows heavy rain on the way and it seems like things aren’t looking bright. But don’t tell that to McConnaughy or Crawford.

The baseball lifers have been running this tournament for three decades and have seen it all and are prepared for anything.

“We have field crews that take really good care of the fields,” McConnaughy said. “We hope, if it rains, it isn’t that bad and we can get the games in. Every field is different, though. Some hold water well and some don’t.

“The fields are manned from anywhere from 4-20 people, depending on the organizations. They do such a great job and each year and we have teams request to play at certain fields because of how well they are treated.”

The event kicks off today at Patterson Field with the 20th annual Player Showcase, put on by Ron Vrana and his Paramount Scouting Bureau.

Players will get their times recorded and sent to college coaches.

“This has worked out so well for us through the years and we usually have 100 or more kids involved,” Crawford said. “It is a lot of fun for the players and a good thing for them to see where they are at.”

The field will feature a number of local teams in the top class. Post 159 is back to defend its crown, along with second-place bracket winner Wheeling Post 1. Moundsville Post 3 and Weirton Post 10 will also take place.

For St. Clairsville manager Mike Muklewicz, the excitement from last season hasn’t worn off. But Muklewicz isn’t one to rest on his laurels and won’t let his team, either.

He feels like Post 159 has as good as shot as anyone to win.

“This is one of the best tournaments with the best talent from the East Coast,” Muklewicz said. “It takes a lot of pitching. Last year we were very fortunate to go into the last day with our top three pitchers available to pitch. This year we have to do some things different, but hopefully we keep our hot bats going.”

St. Clairsville won three games on Sunday to claim the title last season, topping the Independent Players out of Pittsburgh to make Ohio Valley history.

Muklewicz doesn’t know if he will have the luxury of holding his aces out until Sunday this time around.

“We probably can’t do that this year so hopefully we can get a lead and get them out as early as possible,” he said. “This season, we got off to a slow start and I was a little worried coming in. But we picked some pieces up along the way and baseball is a funny game. If everything is in sync, the sticks are in a rhythm, anything can happen.

“We are hitting the ball hard right now and three of our last four games, we have had double-digit hits and double-digit runs. We are hitting our stride and I feel the best is yet to come. It would be very cool to go back-to-back and we are going to do everything in our power to get there.”

Wheeling Post 1 is the two-time defending state champions and have won the second place bracket in back-to-back years. While that is something to be proud of, Manager Mark Delbrugge said his team has its sights set higher.

“This is one of the highlights of our year,” Delbrugge said. “This is the tournament that gets us ready for the state tournament.

“We have won the second-place bracket twice, but this year we think we have a real shot of getting into that top bracket. If we play well enough, we know we have the team to do it.”

Delbrugge has been praising his team’s pitching depth all season and in a tournament like this, where you are guaranteed seven games (barring weather), having fresh arms comes into play and sometimes can make or break you.

“We are were able to pick up a few alumni that were still eligible to help us out,” Delbrugge said in additions of Matt Gruber, Tyler Ashbrook and Luke Cooper. “We have very good pitching, but we know the caliber of teams that will be here and they will put the ball in play. We have to play good defense and be able to make the plays behind them.

“We will hit the ball. We are hitting .360 as a team so we know we are going to score some runs. We need pitchers to eat up innings and not wear them out. The key to that will be playing good defense and not giving teams extra outs.”