As far as Legion baseball in Delaware is concerned, Sussex East’s Post 28 team perennially has been one of the elite teams in the state. Each summer they’re competitive, and recently they have been in contention for the league crown.
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Post 28’s Colin Warner recently stopped the team’s four-game slide with a shutout at pitcher. The team is short of players, including on the mound.
But, this year, second-year head coach Jody Sweetman’s squad is on the rocks early. They’ve won only two of eight games so far, and that isn’t the type of record Sweetman envisioned when he assembled this year’s team, which is filled with collegiate talents and current and former All State and All Conference selections — no.
But this year’s current record isn’t about the talent, or even the lack of talent, but the availability of the players.
The struggle with Legion baseball, especially for Post 28, is that many — if not an overwhelming majority — of these players need to work, especially on the weekends, which is when they play double-headers. They are either heading to college or already have a year of college under their belt, and money is a big priority. And whether they’re working to defer the costs of tuition or simply to save enough cash to live on during the school year, the almighty dollar may be squeezing out summer-time Legion baseball.
“It’s really been hard,” Sweetman said of the task of rounding up enough available players for each game this season. “I never would’ve thought I’d have such a hard time rounding up nine players from a 17-man roster. I have eight that have a really good thing with their bosses, but that still leaves me short one ballplayer.”
Zac Spece (0-1), formerly of Sussex Tech High School and a current pitcher at Arcadia University, is one such player that made the tough decision to work more this summer in order to hedge his costs when he heads back to school.
“It was tough [decision to make] but I decided at the end of last summer that I would have to take a second job because I didn’t make enough to live on [once I got back to school] and for books. Now I work six days a week and 60 hours a week.”
Spece had always been a reliable Legion player for both Sweetman and former manager Mearl Layton, as a pitcher and utility infielder, but now he’s strictly a part-time player. He’s made an agreement with Sweetman that he’ll try to arrange his work schedule to pitch once every four or five days.
But it’s not just Post 28 that’s having a tough time fielding a team each game, either. Other Legion teams, such as Wilmington-based Post 1, barely had enough players to complete a scheduled double-header against Post 28 this past weekend — and they have a larger talent pool to pick from and were even the home team.
Milford currently has 25 players on their roster, and fielding a team is never a certainty. “We’re having the same problem,” Milford assistant head coach Bob Starkey said. “We have 25 kids on the roster, and it’s hard to get 10 to show up.
“It defiantly gave me gray hairs,” he added, as his duties have decreased.
Sweetman stated that many of his players are having a difficult time getting off on the weekends, and others have conflicting obligations, such as AAU travel baseball or various showcase camps. With players like Luis Barrientos (Indian River) and D.J. Long (Sussex Central), who both play AAU travel ball, Sweetman knew they would be part-time players at best, but as he was putting the team together he had other commitments that would’ve fluffed up his team.
Members from last year’s team, like Martez Haggans (Sussex Central/Newman University), Mark Ahfledt (Indian River), Josh Dean (University of Maryland Eastern Shore/Indian River), Spece and newcomer Josh Lee (Sussex Central) were all penciled in as regulars on this year’s team but never did play regularly. Dean is playing in a wooden bat league in New Jersey. Ahfeldt and Spece both work, but Sweetman still hasn’t heard from either Hagans or Lee.
Post 28 was short-handed pitching-wise against Post 1 and had only Colin Warner (Wesley University/Indian River) and Mike Casale (Indian River) available to pitch because of a recent showcase and a travel ball tournament. Fortunately for Post 28, both pitchers tossed complete games and were able to split the double header.
Casale (0-1) “pitched one heck of a game,” according to Sweetman, despite being sick, but wasn’t able to pitch his way to the win. Post 28 lost the game 4-2, but Warner (1-0) was able to snap their four-game slide behind a complete game, two-hit 3-0 shutout. Both pitchers threw fewer than 100 pitches (Casale-91, Warner 70), which is a good thing because Sweetman has tried to keep his pitchers on a strict pitch count until they work themselves back into pitching shape.
Sweetman noted that their record could have been better had they not removed pitchers from the game once they hit their limit but, ultimately, the players’ health was considered.
“Our pitchers have done well, but we’ve been concerned because they haven’t got a lot work. And with all the school activities and whatnot, it’s been hard to get our pitchers in any type of a groove,” he said. “I’m anxious and hopeful that we can get a string in a row so they can get the work.”
Sweetman cited an example in which the team lost 3-2 to Georgetown after Luis Barrientos (0-1) was pulled despite pitching well, with a 2-0 lead after six innings, but he’d hit his pitch count and was pulled. D.J. Long (0-1) replaced him and gave up three runs.
Currently, Sweetman is in the process of rescheduling three weekend double-headers against upstate teams such as Delvets, Oak Grove and Stahl Post and has already bumped a June 26 road game against Milford to July 2.
It’s very important to make sure the games are made up, because a failure to do so would amount in a forfeit and makes it difficult to make the state tournament. The head coaches initially are given a chance to hammer out a date to reschedule the game, but if that is unsuccessful then the league commissioners set the date which is final.
And if, for any reason other than extreme weather, the teams can’t make it then the home team receives a forfeit — that is unless the visiting team is absent then they would receive the forfeit. A forfeit is worth a half-point, a loss equals one point. Obviously, the better a record a team has the more it helps when figuring out who makes the state tournament, because only the top eight teams have a chance at the title.
And as of June 30, Sweetman must have an 18-man roster set. So, to all warm-blooded, able-bodied baseball players ages 15 to 19 who are free to play on weekends — contact Sweetman, because he’s got a “help wanted” sign hanging outside his door.
Note: Post 28’s scheduled June 30 home double-header against R.C. DuPont may be played at the Pyle Center, instead of the old Indian River High School. Sweetman said it would be a last-minute decision that would probably be made Friday, assuming there isn’t a conflict with any Little League games. The double-header is scheduled to begin at noon.