Murrysville brings experience to Westmoreland County summer baseball league

Take a six-player core of veteran guys, stir in some newcomers and sprinkle in a dash of talent from four other programs that won’t field teams this summer, and you have the Murrysville senior “Legion” baseball team.

Now, subtract the Legion part.

“We have some guys that have been with us since Pony ball,” manager Chas Brncic said. “They went to states at the junior level. With the exception of a few guys, that’s the basic core. We’re anxious to see how our newer kids, who actually make us an older team, blend in with the others.”

Experienced Murrysville is part of the rebranded Westmoreland County American League, previously known as District 31 of American Legion.

When American Legion canceled its summer season and activities because of the coronavirus spread and the restrictions that followed, Latrobe coach and Region 7 director Jason Bush took it upon himself to keep some semblance of a local league intact.

Teams dropped the “Post” designation and can’t wear Legion patches on their uniforms. Nonetheless, summer baseball is here again.

Murrysville opens play in the nine-team league 6 p.m. Monday at home against Yough.

“I am proud of what they did to keep things going,” Brncic said. “A lot of kids are itching to go.”

Season preparation has been somewhat of a mixed bag so far. For instance, Murrysville has had about a week of practices at Haymaker Park. Some teams have met once or twice so far. And Latrobe played two exhibition games already, as of Wednesday.

The league might need a couple of weeks to re-establish continuity and for teams to develop and find an identity.

Murrysville finished 6-12 last season and was swept by Hempfield East in a best-of-three first-round playoff series. Brncic said the team ended last summer with “a lot of hope.”

The 2019 roster shrank as the season wore on because of typical summer baseball factors: summer trips, vacations and jobs.

“We had some hitting practices before we went green,” Brncic said. “Then we took some live (batting practice) and worked on some fielding. We’ll start to get into more specifics as we get closer to our first game. I think all of the teams are going to figure things out as they go.”

Back to that nucleus, Murrysville will turn to a half-dozen fourth-year players: top pitcher Connor Helm (Washington & Jefferson recruit), infielders Jeffrey Downs and Luke Trelor, outfielder/catcher Trevor Brncic and outfielders Chris Pagano Andersen Petrazzi. They were part of the 2018 Junior Legion team that finished third in the state.

Catcher David Franco returns after a year away, and Max Kodat, Zach Seaman, a Cal (Pa.) recruit, and Noah Sofran will look to make their mark on the 19-player roster.

Helm and Seaman would have been seniors on the Franklin Regional High School team.

Safran is from Plum. Four players from three other neighboring programs also will look to make an impact as experienced contributors from the free-agent pool: Zach Miller of Cal (Pa.) and Jack Henderson (Wooster) of Lower Burrell, Matt Skelly from Kiski Area and Anthony Sciulli of Penn Hills.

Lower Burrell does not have a Legion-level team, and Kiski Valley decided not to play this summer.

Burrell and Kiski Area players usually are rostered with Kiski Valley.

“We’re looking forward to see what they can bring to the table,” Chas Brncic said. “I think we can be a pretty competitive team. I am curious to see if the quality of play will remain at a high level. Teams will be rusty, yes, but the kids want to get out and compete.”

The WCALB will play a 16-game regular season and eight teams will make the playoffs.

The eighth- and ninth-place teams will meet in a wild card game for the No. 8 seed and there will be a traditional playoff bracket from there (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5).

The Westmoreland league also hopes to play teams from other counties in a regional-type of playoff tournament after its postseason ends.

Murrysville has made the Region 7 playoffs fives times since 2000, the last in 2015.