MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Morgantown Post 2 baseball team is gearing up for a celebration.
The program will welcome back past members this coming weekend as it hosts its first alumni weekend in Morgantown.
The activities will start at 7 p.m. Friday with a social night at Colasante’s in Westover, followed by a Post 2 doubleheader against South Charleston at Mylan Park on Saturday afternoon and an alumni game Sunday afternoon.
Entry to Saturday’s game will be free for any alumni of the program, with the opening pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. Any alumni interested in playing Sunday are encouraged to show up and join. Batting practice starts at 1 p.m., with the game slated for 3 p.m.
“We kind of want to make it an annual thing so guys can come back, re-live the glory days, hang out with friends and play ball,” Post 2 coach Tyler Barnette said.
“We’ve had alumni games before, but we have so many alumni. We’ve been playing for 92 consecutive summers now. It doesn’t seem right to try and fit everything into one day.”
Andrew Berry, who is a 2018 alumnus of the program and the current first base coach, said the weekend presents a unique opportunity for alumni to congregate and celebrate to the success of the program — as well as providing another opportunity to take the field one more time as a player.
“For some of the former players, even the guys I played with, I haven’t seen them since the last time we were on the field together,” he said. “Last year when I played my final game in the uniform it made me realize how great those days are and to be able to suit up and play with them one more time is a great experience.
“For me and other former players, we just want to have a good time. Come game time, we’re going to give our best shot, but this is a great time for the program to see how strong we’ve become and how much it means to everyone.”
Barnette and Berry also hope that the alumni presence throughout the weekend will serve as an opportunity for the current athletes to understand the importance of the ball club, and learn from those who played before them.
“It allows current players to form relationships with those players who laid the building blocks that turned the Post program into the program it is today,” Berry said. “To be able to have that mentorship there, especially with a team as good as we have this season, is awesome.”
“If the kids we have on the team now can learn anything from this, it’s a favorable venture,” Barnette added. “If they can see how much this program meant to guys who are 40 or 50 years old, it shows how important and successful our program is. It shows kids opportunities arise because of baseball.”
