HANOVER — For the second straight year, Fort Cumberland is one of the final 64 American Legion teams left standing.
That number will be reduced to eight after this week, and Fort Cumberland will try to be one of them by winning the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament for the first time ever.
Fort Cumberland (21-6) opens regional play today against Delaware state champion Del Vets Post 1 (16-5) of Wilmington at 4:30 p.m.
All games in the double-elimination tournament will be played at Joe Cannon Stadium in Hanover.
How they got here
Fort Cumberland advanced to the regional stage by going 5-0 at the Maryland state tournament, defeating Cecil County Post 15, 3-2, in eight innings in the championship game on a Kohen Madden (Allegany) walk-off walk.
Post 13 won four one-run games, two in extra innings and two on walk-offs. Logan VanMeter (Fort Hill) had two go-ahead hits during the run, and Tyson Shumaker (Mountain Ridge/Salem University) had another.
Steven Spencer (Fort Hill) and Bobby Brauer (Fort Hill) recorded complete-game victories on the mound. Parker Ferraro (Mountain Ridge/Garrett College) threw 8 2/3 shutout innings in Fort Cumberland’s first game.
Bryce Madden (Allegany/Glenville State) was awarded pitcher of the tournament, and catcher Carson Bradley (Mountain Ridge/Allegany College) was the offensive MVP.
It was the second consecutive state title for Post 13 and seventh all time.
Return trip
Last year, Fort Cumberland went 1-2 in the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament. Its victory over West Virginia champ Berkeley Post 14, 8-1, was the post’s first at that stage since 1934.
Fort Cumberland was knocked out by Delaware Post 1, 5-3.
While that team is also from Wilmington and sponsored by Post 1, it’s not the same as Del Vets Post 1, Post 13’s opponent today.
Fort Cumberland has never won the Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament. It won the Eastern Sectional in 1934 — the same year it won the World Series — before the modern regional format was introduced.
Delaware champ is talented
Fort Cumberland drew one of the tournament favorites in the first round.
Del Vets Post 1 crushed 33-time state champ Stahl Post 30, 17-3, in the Delaware finals.
Post 13 will likely see one of Del Vets’ Division 1-bound left-handed pitchers in Matthew Speicher (St. Joseph’s) or Brady Fox (University of Maryland, Baltimore County).
Fox is rated as one of the country’s Top 500 players in the Class of 2024 and the No. 1 left-handed pitcher in Delaware. His fastball sits at 87-88 miles per hour and tops out at 90 despite his 5-foot-10, 175-pound frame.
Speicher is more physically imposing at 6’-4” and has a fastball velocity between 86-88.
Evan Frank, a 6’-5” right-handed pitcher, had a 4.91 ERA in 18 1/3 innings at the College of New Jersey (D3) as a freshman.
Frank is the lone current college baseball player on Del Vets.
In addition to Fox and Speicher, Andrew Firko (Swathmore, D3), Ryan Timmons (Washington College, D3), Aidan Kee (Keystone, D3), Tre Villanova (Wilmington, D2), Jack Rossi (Gettysburg, D3), Vincent Offutt (East Stroudsburg, D2) and Matthew McGill (Alvernia, D3) have college commitments.
Fort Cumberland has two current college players: Landon McAlpine (Mountain Ridge/Salem University) and Bradley.
Madden, Ferraro, Shumaker, Caedon Wallace (Allegany/Allegany College) and Josef Sneathen (Allegany/Garrett College) are committed to colleges.
Brooklawn heavy favorite
Those who follow American Legion baseball need little explanation as to the dominance of Brooklawn Post 72.
For the uninitiated, the New Jersey powerhouse is one of the most storied in history, advancing to a record 17 World Series and winning it all in 2014, ‘13, ‘01 and ‘91.
Brooklawn won the Mid-Atlantic Regional that Fort Cumberland participated in last year and advanced to its 13th Final Four at the national tournament, falling in the semifinals.
This year’s team might be even better, sporting five commits to power conference institutions: RHP Landon Mack (Rutgers), shortstop Noah Danza (Virginia), RHP Howard DeRias (Miami), outfielder/RHP Chase Kroberger (Alabama) and first baseman/RHP Matthew Kouser (Northwestern).
Mack is the squad’s top recruit, ranked No. 392 nationally by Perfect Game in the Class of 2024. Mack, DeRias and Kouser all possess fastballs that top 90 mph.
Most of Brooklawn’s roster is pulled from Gloucester Catholic, which finished the year ranked No. 15 in the nation by Baseball America and No. 1 in New Jersey.
Rest of the field
Playing in the other game on the Fort Cumberland and Del Vet side of the bracket are West Virginia champ Wheeling Post 1 (29-7) and New York title winner Smith Post 24 (26-4).
Wheeling lost its first game at states before rattling off five straight wins, including two over host Morgantown Post 2 on the final day to capture its 18th state championship.
Wheeling holds the distinction of being the oldest American Legion post in the United States, dating back to 1919.
Smith, of Rome, won its first New York championship since 1998. It scored just 11 runs over four state tournament games and allowed 10, but three of its runs broke ties in the final inning of games.
Brooklawn (20-5) opens with another repeat regional participant in the Quakertown Blue Jays (30-2), who captured a second straight Pennsylvania state championship.
Quakertown went 2-2 in regionals last year, and Brooklawn handed the squad a 13-3 defeat to drop it into the loser’s bracket.
The final first-round game is between Pennsylvania runner-up Northeastern (20-4) of York County and host St. Mary’s Post 255 (19-7).
Northeastern was routed by Quakertown, 9-0, in the championship game — denying the squad its first state title since 1964 — but two Pennsylvania teams are sent to regionals.
St. Mary’s, of Ridge, went 1-2 at the Maryland state tournament in July, dropping its opener to Fort Cumberland, 1-0, in 11 innings before getting eliminated by Old Mill, 3-1.
St. Mary’s is the most-recent team from Maryland and just the fifth in 49 years to advance to the national World Series, winning the 2021 regional title.
That squad was coached by Steve Zumpano, a Northern Garrett graduate and 2001 Frostburg State Hall of Fame inductee.
St. Mary’s went 2-1 in its pool at nationals that year but was denied a semifinal spot due to a tiebreaker.
Other players to watch
Three other teams arrive to the regional with Division 1 commits.
Wheeling is led by recent Linsly graduate Alex Taylor, a center fielder committed to Ohio University.
Conner Rippo of Northeastern is the No. 1-ranked junior outfielder in Pennsylvania and throws in the upper-80s as a right-handed pitcher. He’s committed to the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
St. Mary’s is the oldest team in the field with nine current college baseball players. Recent Great Mills graduate Ryan Brown is signed to play at Mount St. Mary’s.
Brown was the lone player to hit a home run in the Maryland state tournament at the spacious Joe Cannon Stadium.