Latrobe Legion looks to maintain standard of success

One consistent with the Latrobe American Legion baseball team is the pride the players show year in and year out.

For the past 28 years, the Jethawks have qualified for the District 31 playoffs, and they’ve typically battled for the regular season title. They’ve also had a full roster of 18 players.

Latrobe missed qualifying for the Region 7 tournament by one game in 2018, but since it is hosting the tournament this summer they’ve already earn a berth into this year’s tournament.

That doesn’t mean Latrobe will be coasting in 2019. Veteran coach Jason Bush and his players would like to win the regular season title and the playoffs.

“The names change from year to year, but the goals don’t,” Bush said. “This team strives to be the best. That’s a testament to the players.”

Latrobe is 5-2 in the District 31 standings and faces a challenging weekend schedule. The Jethawks face one of the top teams in the league, Bushy Run.

Several Bushy Run players competed for the Penn-Trafford varsity team in WPIAL Class 6A this season. That group lost in the district championship game to Pine-Richland and advanced to the PIAA tournament.

Bushy Run finished third in the Region 7 tournament in 2018.

Latrobe is at Bushy Run at 3 p.m. Saturday and plays host to Bushy Run at noon Sunday.

“Facing them will be a difficult task,” Bush said. “I’m proud to say as president of the league that the league is solid top to bottom. Hempfield East and Bushy Run are probably the top teams, but the rest are solid. That presents some challenges for the teams in the region.”

Shortstop/pitcher Matt Henderson and outfielder Logan Gustafson are two players Bush is counting on this season. He said Henderson is a quiet person who leads by example, and Gustafson is off to a good start with the bat.

“I feel we’ll be in contention because we have good pitching and play solid defense,” Bush said. “If we find some offense, which may come from the small-ball variety, we’ll be in a lot of games.”

Latrobe is 10-4 overall and went 2-2 at the Hillbilly Classic in Elkins, W.Va. last weekend.

“We probably should have been 3-1, but we let one game get away from us,” Bush said. “The trip was more of a team-bonding thing. It was the first time away together for a lot of the players. It also gave us an opportunity to play a lot of players.

“The camaraderie was great, the competition was great and we got better. That was the key.”

Other players he’s counting on include pitcher Jacob Bradish, first baseman Ben Rafferty, shortstop/outfielder/pitcher Drew Clair and pitcher Ticker Knupp.

Henderson is 3-0 with 26 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings, Ethan Boring is 3-1 and Bradish 2-0.

Gustafson is batting .452 with 19 hits and eight stolen bases, Henderson is hitting .357 with 11 RBIs and Clair is hitting .333.

“One thing I like about the team is our overall speed,” Bush said. “This is one of the fastest teams I’ve had.”

Bush is in his 15^th season as coach of Latrobe. He coached previously with Ron Frye.