Bears preparing to host states
The Boyertown Bears Legion Baseball team looks optimistically to this weekend’s start of the 2018 Pennsylvania State Tournament as they attempt to regain the optimism that was characteristically present at the start of the season.
The Bears began the season with five straight wins, and in fact had a record of 19-7 as June turned into July. However, they faltered in the heat of July, losing three straight games at one point while falling to an overall record of 24-13.
In their most recent games, the Bears won their Berks County Playoff opener, blanking Exeter 2-0. However, they then lost back-to-back games to be eliminated from the tournament.
Nevertheless, the Bears head into this week’s state tournament with optimism.
“We have had some good practice sessions and learning opportunities so we’ll see if we’re able to put those into play next week,” said head coach Rick Moatz.
The Bears will open with a Saturday evening game against the champions of Region 5 (Northeast PA), who is not known as this article goes to press. They would then play either the winner of loser of Saturday’s second game, which would feature the Region 7 champions (Altoona-State College area) versus the Region 8 champions (Northwest PA).
This week’s state tournament will be the 16th to be played at Boyertown’s Bear Stadium and will be the 31st tournament overall at a level beyond the Berks County Playoffs to be held at the Stadium. The Bears participated in 28 of those previous 30 Tournaments and have won 12 of them, including 8 state tournaments, 3 Mid-Atlantic Regionals, and, of course, the 1982 Legion World Series.
A new feature at this Tournament will be the concept of a game-day ticket. In other words, a ticket for a given game will be good for the entire day. Another new feature at the Tournament will be a weekend opener instead of the usual opening on a Wednesday.
The Bears will face stiff competition in the Tournament. For example, Region 5 – Boyertown’s opening opponent in the Tournament – features a Swoyersville squad who has won 3 of the last 4 Region 5 titles, including State Championships in 2014 and 2016, in Boyertown, no less. This year’s Swoyersville’s squad has an undefeated 2-0 record in the Region 5 Tournament at press time.
In the other regions, several recognizable names are undefeated. Region 3 power Spring City, defending state champion Ephrata in Region 4, Uniontown in Region 6 and Region 8 French Creek Valley all have undefeated records in their respective Regional tournaments at press time. Boyertown’s own home region, Region 2, have several strong teams including West Lawn, host Muhlenberg, and Bux-Mont representatives Souderton and Hatfield-Towamencin, all of whom either played the Bears (winning 4 of the 5 contests) or who had scheduled games with the Bears postponed.
With this strong field, Moatz has set realistic goals with the tournament.
“With the young players and inexperience we are looking at trying to win one game,” he said. “As always we know there will be some very strong teams in the field as well as some outstanding baseball players.”
But as he also added, “Our team always looks forward to the challenge of competing against strong competition.”
CHALK DUST: Tate Yergey and Nick DiCiacco have staged a season-long battle for the team batting championship. Currently, DiCiacco leads, .396 to .357, with shortstop Chris Davis right behind at .355 … The Bears are batting .293 and have averaged 6.4 runs per game … Team ERA is 3.22, with Nolan Kline leading the team at 1.37. Stephen Cisik leads the team with 6 wins and 36 strikeouts