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St. Clairsville Post 159 Juniors Capture Ohio State Junior Title

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Photo Provided The St. Clairsville American Legion Post 159 Junior Baseball program won the Ohio Junior State Tournament at Beavers Field in Lancaster last weekend. Team members are, front row from left, head coach Cody Ray, Gavin Bell, Trent White, Kohen Holmes, Aaron Pacifico, Nathan Fatula and Colten Roberts. Back row, from left, are assistant coach Kevin Schmidli, Mavrik Marty, Gunner Dudzik, Connor Nelson, Hudson Florence, Jaxten Swallie, Brae Schmidli, Jackson Mercer, Cooper Roberts, Karson Grigaitis and assistant coach Tucker Roberts.

LANCASTER - In just its second year of existence, the St. Clairsville American Legion Post 159 Junior Baseball program has taken off very quickly.

Last weekend at Beavers Field, the team captured the Ohio State American Legion Junior championship. They defeated teams from Sidney (10-3), defending champion Lancaster (6-4) and Marietta (8-1) before falling to Sidney (5-4). However, Post 159 bounced back with a 5-0 blanking of Sidney in the title tilt.

The Junior program was formed in 2025 and is led by head coach Cody Ray and assistant coach Tucker Roberts. The general manager is Matt King.

"Hats off to this group of ballplayers, coaches, and families," St. Clairsville Post 159 Senior head coach Mike Muklewicz praised. "This is an incredible accomplishment and a heckuva run they went on the last 10 days in both Region 4 and the state tournament.

"Last year, the Juniors were one game away from playing for the State Championship ... fast forward 12 months and they are right back there, but they got the job done this time."

The program was started to allow more youngsters the opportunity to play baseball. So far, so good.

"From a program perspective, this is exactly why we got this off the ground. We didn't exactly know how all these pieces would fit together and how this might look but there was a vision, not necessarily year one or year two, but five years down the road," Muklewicz added.

"Huge kudos to Cody Ray. We threw him into the mix on short notice and he ran with it," Muklewicz noted. "He's done an outstanding job with this group this year.

"From behind the scenes, Matt King has also put in a ton of time and effort which has allowed me to continue to be focused on the Seniors, as well as the program as a whole," Muklewicz said. "The future is bright and we're super thrilled about where this is headed."

Sadly, though, the team will not advance to Regional Tournament play this summer. According to Muklewicz, the event was canceled for 2026.

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