Matt Murphy, a former catcher at Troy High, takes a cut at the Melvin Roads Post batting cage at the Peluso household in suburban Rensselaer Tuesday afternoon. Melvin Roads Post, defending New York State American League champions, is looking to win its third title in four years this summer. (Photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

RENSSELAER -- Summer baseball players in the Capital Region are not without options when looking for a team. Some choose to play Connie Mack ball and others compete in Albany’s fabled Twilight League.

For a growing number of diamond diehards in Rensselaer County, American Legion baseball at Melvin Roads Post No. 1231, which is named after an East Greenbush native who lost his life serving his country in World War I, is becoming an attractive alternative.

"This is a special one. I played for it and I’ve coached," said assistant coach Curtis Nobles, who started playing for Melvin Roads in 1993. "To me, this is my family. Melvin Roads kept me off the streets when I was younger and it put me in a perspective of life and the way I should carry myself."

Marc Peluso, the first-year head coach at Melvin Roads, had to turn players away before the season began – a sign that word is getting out about the benefits of Legion baseball.

"We had 30-plus kids wanting to play on an 18-man roster," Peluso said during a batting practice session Tuesday at the Peluso household in suburban Rensselaer. "This was one of the first years we had to cut kids down. I’m only allowed to have 18 kids on the team, but it’s a good problem to have. We’re starting to get a lot of good-caliber kids that want to come in because they’re recognizing the level of competition and the scouts that come to our games."

Winners of the New York State American Legion title in 2007 and 2009, Melvin Roads advanced to regional round play in West Virginia last summer, finishing as one of the best 64 among the 5,500-plus Legion teams from around the nation.

With just a handful of teams to compete against in the immediate Capital Region – Hudson, Kingston, Saugerties, Saratoga Springs and South Glens Falls also have Legion posts with teams – Melvin Roads players often spend their summers on ballfields around the state playing in multi-day tournaments. They play regularly in tournaments in Newburgh, Utica and Binghamton, all of which lead up to the New York State Tournament, which will be played July 27-31 in Newburgh.

"It’s tough. It’s not like the AABC (American Amateur Baseball Congress) where you win a tournament and you’re automatically in the World Series," said shortstop A.J. Ragone, who played at Christian Brothers Academy and just finished his first year at Hudson Valley Community College. "You have to play all the way through districts, states and regionals. It’s hard, because all these other teams are geared up to play, but so are we."

Many of the players, including outfielder Nick Papas, say that Legion ball has helped them perfect their skills and improved their performance on college teams during the spring season. In fact, Papas hopes his Hudson Valley Community College team can reach the Junior College World Series in Texas next year with a ton of returning talent that is all out to get better this summer.

"I wanted to face better competition, so I came over here," said second baseman Zeb Gaston, who formerly played with the Lansingburgh Royals. "I wanted to expand my game. It was something I wanted to do."

The appeal of college and professional scouts is also a big selling point of Legion ball to talented youngsters in the area.

"It’s building," Peluso said. "Legion baseball was big in the past before there was ENYTB and all these travel leagues that have came about. It used to be Legion ball...that’s what you would play. It’s starting to come back to that thanks to the success our program has built."

Speaking of geared up, equipment and expenses are other reasons why players are flocking to Legion ball. Aside from a $250 registration fee, Melvin Roads Post pays for most of the players’ gear, including caps, t-shirts, shorts and a large portion of the team’s travel expenses. The players spend some time assisting at Bingo nights at the hall and hope to hold pancake breakfast fundraisers there in the future.

"No. 1, we have to represent Melvin Roads," Nobles said. "American Legion is very prestigious as far as fronting the bill. They pay for everything. The least they ask us to do is show respect to the veterans and the game."

American Legion’s 19-and-under age limit also allows the team to collect players such as Zeb Gaston, who just finished his sophomore year at Troy High. He hopes to continue with Melvin Roads through his high school career and hopefully after a freshman season at college somewhere.

"A lot of kids want to play, but this is for people who really want to play,"Ragone said. "It’s not come when you choose. It’s baseball all-around, you know? Every guy on this team loves to play. They come every day ready to play, geared up to play. That’s what we like to do - play baseball all summer long."

"Everyone else is doing their own thing, drinking and partying," said outfielder Nick Papas, who won a New York State Class C baseball title at Maple Hill High School before playing soccer and baseball at HVCC this past year. "This is what I do and what we all do instead of going out partying all the time. This is how we enjoy our summer."

Second baseman Zeb Gaston, who just finished his sophomore year at Troy High, is the every day second sacker for Melvin Roads Post, playing regularly against pitchers who have just finished their first year of college.

Follow OTR: Twitter
Facebook
iTunes video podcast
RSS feed for links to blog posts as soon as they are published

Royals bounced in Owasso

Despite the efforts of Zeb Gaston (above), the Lansingburgh Royals 15-and-under Mickey Mantle team was eliminated at the American Amateur Baseball Congress World Series in Owasso, Okla. on Thursday. (photo courtesy www.owassobaseball.com)

The Royals won their opening game on Tuesday, but dropped games on Wednesday and Thursday in the double elimination, 14-team tournament. Many of the players on this team will be stars on their respective varsity teams next year and will likely be back on Mantle and Connie Mack teams in the summers to come.

--
Melvin Roads Post impressive in game No. 1 at American Legion North Atlantic Regional

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The Melvin Roads American Legion Post baseball team scored a 12-2 victory over the New Castle, Del. Post in the opening round of the Mid-Atlantic regional Thursday morning.
Mike Barna hit a three-run home run and doubled and Annibal Maldonado and Bobby Peluso added home runs for Melvin Roads in the triumph.
Matt Montross, who pitched a complete game victory, also doubled twice and hit a single for Melvin Roads.
The East Greenbush-based club will face the winner of Thursday’s game between the Maryland and West Virginia state champions in a winner’s bracket game today at 4:30 p.m.
Live box scores of the games are available at www.baseball.legion.org

--

Closer to home, Spring Youth Baseball's nine-and-under team started things off with a win in the Cal Ripken North Atlantic Regionals in Troy on Thursday.

Our colleague Stan Hudy at The Saratogian and The Community News was kind enough to send us a report from the game, which appears below.
Stan will also be offering updates from the tournament on his blog, which you can view by clicking here.


Stan Hudy
For The Record

TROY – The 9-year-old Spring Baseball All-Stars have shown they can win on the big stage, even the biggest, capturing the AABC 2009 Jackie Robinson World Series in Tulsa earlier this year.

On Thursday, they opened the 2009 Cal Ripken Baseball 9-year-old Mid-Atlantic Regional with a thud, but with a win, hoping they had shaken off their doldrums with a 6-4 win before facing three more opponents in pool play at the Spring Baseball Complex.

“They fought tough, but didn’t hit the ball well,” Spring manager Dave Judge said. “The first win is huge, I’m happy with the outcome.

The tournament hosts spotted the Southern New Jersey champions, Montgomery a first-inning one-run lead before posting their own two-run second inning, taking on single runs in the third and fifth innings, doing the most damage in the bottom of the fourth, including a wild run by Brett Young.

Down 1-0 after Montgomery’s Michael Hrudowsky reached on a single and advanced on a single by teammate Brian Giordano and grounder by Joey Schneider. He came around to score on a wild pitch in a shaky first inning.

After their own 1-2-3 first, Anthony Germinero singled to centerfield and moved over on Will Burger’s fielder’s choice that erased leadoff batter Saverio Yamin. Young grounded to the shortstop, but the throw went awry allowing Germinero to score. Burger raced home on a wild pitch, pushing Spring ahead, 2-1.

Spring’s Joe Casale led off the third with a double to right, advanced to third on David Judge’s groundout and scored on another Montgomery pitcher’s wild pitch, pulling ahead, 3-1.

It appeared to be all but over in the fourth after Burger singled to right, stole second and moved to third on another wild pitch. Young grounded to short, but the ball squirted underneath the fielder, allowing Burger to score and Young was on his horse. He also stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Then it was just heads-up base running.

When teammate Connor Sicko struck out, the Montgomery catcher rolled the ball towards the mound and the visitors assumed the inning was over. It wasn’t and Young raced home for the commanding 5-1 lead.

“Our coach always yells to us if the ball is coming in and to slide,” Young said about his early steal. “When he rolled the ball, I was surprised too. Coach yelled to me and I knew I had to go.”

With their backs against the wall, Montgomery battled back in the top of the fifth as the bottom of its order and newly inserted pinch-hitters, Matthew Heidt, Joey Gutterman and Kyle Kuminski each reached on singles to load the bases.

Judge called on Zachary Ziter to come on in relief of starter Connor Sicko to end the threat.

He struck out the first batter and enticed Michael Pedota to a grounder back to the mound that allowed Heidt to score. Hrudowsky reached on a throwing error by the shortstop, allowing both Gutterman and Kuminski to score, cutting the lead, 5-4. A strikeout would end the threat.

Spring sprinted to another run in the fifth, this time it was by David Judge who reached on a two-out walk in the fifth. He ran to second after the throw by the catcher sailed into the outfield and he was off to third. He didn’t have to stop as the throw back over the diamond also went wide, allowing him to score.

Ziter returned for the sixth for a 1-2-3 inning and two additional strikeouts.

“I was just trying to do my best and hoping they wouldn’t hit any doubles,” Ziter said about his relief appearance. “We had to hold them.”

The Spring squad is the focus on the tournament, already as World Series champions and local diamond stars, expecting a tremendous turnout for the tournament, a different experience than traveling to Tulsa.

“When we went away it just the parents and the coaches,” Judge said. “Here we have a lot of people cheering them on and coming to see them play. It’s different pressure now, they’re home, their known and people want to see them and these other teams want to beat them.”

--

11-year-old Section III Championship Game
East Greenbush-Castleton 1, Colonie 0: Jared Fortin pitched a no-hitter in a complete game shutout for East Greenbush-Castleton, as they defeated the Colonie "Wrecking Crew" in the Section III 11-year-old championship game at Twin Town.
Anthony Butler’s home run in the fifth inning was the only run needed by East Greenbush, which advances to the state tournament against the other five Section champions this weekend in Oswego.

--

Albany's Kimdo Bethel (right) will make his professional boxing debut Frioday night at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy. He'll fight Cleveland, Ohio native James Rankin (left). (Photo by J.S. Carras - The Record).

They call Bethel the 'X-Factor' - for more on that, pick up Friday's edition of The Record, and he went 82-6 in his amateur career, which included a spot as an alternate on the 2008 US Olympic team.

"I did everything in the amateurs that I wanted to do," Bethel said. "So now I’m going to try to do the same thing I did in the amateurs in the pro ranks and try to work my way to the top. I want to fight the top fighters and start making history."

Battle at Troy
Friday, Joseph L. Bruno Stadium

Doors open at 6 p.m.
Fights begin at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets - $30, 40, 50

Blue Corner Red Corner

Super Middleweight–Four Rounds
Donyell Dukes (0-5-0) vs. Tony Brinson (pro debut)

Lightweight-Four Rounds
Laquan Lewis (0-2-0) vs. Zach Smith (2-0-0)

Lightweight-Six Rounds
Bryan Abraham (1-2-1) vs. Broderick Antoine (5-8-1, 4KOs)

Intermission

Heavyweight-Four Rounds
James Rankin (0-2-1) vs. Kimdo Bethel (pro debut)

Super Middleweight-Six Rounds
Markus Williams (2-0-0, 1KO) vs. Nick Brinson (3-0-0, 2KOs)

New York State Welterweight Title Bout-Ten Rounds
Frank Houghtaling (19-16-4, 4KOs) vs. Danny Sostre (9-3-0, 3KOs)