The Phoenixville Athletics Senior American Legion

The Phoenixville Athletics Senior American Legion baseball team has a mixture of young, inexperienced high school players and several who are returning from college.
The A’s opened the season with Chester County League victories over Oxford and Pottsgrove on the road. Last weekend Phoenixville suffered a pair of losses. One was a 7-6 nail-biter loss to Spring City at Spring-Ford High School’s Ram Stadium Saturday evening. On Sunday, the A’s fell to Caln, 13-2, in a five-inning game ended by the 10-run rule at “Doc” Kennedy Field.
Phoenixville’s roster includes third baseman Jesse Daywalt, who started at second base for Chestnut Hill College as a freshman; as well as other players who are in college in Allan Moreland and Ryan Rogala. Daywalt batted second against the Caln Seabees while Moreland was the designated hitter and batted seventh. Rogala started in right field and batted fifth.
The rest of the starting lineup had Anthony Nattle in center field, Thomas Romano at shortstop, Cal Milano at second base, Derek Ryan catching, Mike Jones pitching, Gary Moses at first base and Matt Cohen in left field.
The remainder of the roster includes Dillon Fina, Will Daggett, John Wieland, Matt Pilewski, Tony Sierzega, Jon Wheel, Robby Werner and Corey Smith.
The manager is Jack Sturgeon and his assistant coaches are Craig Jeffers and Geoff Thomas.
The A’s have a capable offense and play suitable defense. However, they are limited in the most important category, pitching. Moses pitched some strong games at the end of the senior high school season and has looked sharp to start the Legion season too, The right-hander pitched well against Spring City in a 5 1/3-inning starting stint.
The rest of the pitchers are youngsters with limited varsity and Legion experience who are going through a baptism under fire. Sturgeon and his staff hope the pitchers improve as the summer season progresses with hopes of qualifying for the loop playoffs.
Ryan, Milano and Romano have also been selected to participate in the annual Carpenter Cup Tournament for senior high school players. The three players will be members of the Chester County ballclub for the Philadelphia tournament, targeted mostly for underclassmen, that is witnessed by numerous scouts and college coaches. Sturgeon will also serve as an assistant coach for head coach Bob Gottschall.
The first two rounds of the tourney will be played at the University of Pennsylvania and the last two rounds will be played at Citizens Bank Park.