Post 295 Baseball

The bragging rights as Gaithersburg¹s best American Legion team has been settled in the tournament championship the past two years with Post 295 besting Post 104 by a 15-5 score in 2004 and through scores of 7-5 and 13-3 a year ago.

Post 295, in fact, has won three straight county titles and two of the last three Maryland State American Legion crowns as well but Post 104 took two of three from its rival this summer and Post 295 doesn't have quite the firepower it had during that impressive three-year run.  

Not to mention, Post 295 will be without the services of center fielder Kevin Collins, the team's No. 3 batter who will have season-ending shoulder surgery now in the hopes of being ready to play at Towson University next year. Collins batted .349 with 30 runs scored, 21 RBI and 11 stolen bases.

That's old news, Post 295 coach Rick Price said of his team's three straight county championships. We have so many new guys we're going to have to do it a different way. We have a few left that remember that, but we have quite a new team.  

Those mainstays include Mike Celenza, the Gazette Player of the Year, who led Post 295 at the plate (.444, 4 HR, 44 RBI) and on the mound (5-0, 1 save, 1.44 ERA).

The team's other key players are Matt Filderman (.378, 19 RBI), Kevin Johnson (.346, 12 RBI), Kyle Judson (.345, 18 RBI), Eric Weller (.317, 13 RBI), Brett Fox (4-3, 2.72 ERA) and John Brauch (3-1, 3.86 ERA).  

We've got to play infield defense, Price said. Our pitching has been wonderful and we've hit from time to time but we need to tighten up our infield defense.  

Price's squad will do battle against a Post 104 squad that run roughshod over the competition for the first half or so of the season but has slipped back to the pack in recent weeks.