The American Legion Post 20 Twins open up play at the 72nd Alaska Legion Baseball State Tournament at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage on Saturday.
The tourney has two pools of four teams. Pool play takes place from Saturday through Tuesday. The top two teams from each pool meet in Wednesday’s semifinals, then the winners play for the title at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1.
Post 20 is seeded third and is in the Alyeska pool with No. 2 Eagle River, No. 6 South and No. 7 Palmer. Eagle River is the three-time defending tournament champion.
The Twins play Post 4 South at 1 p.m. Saturday. Post 20 defeated the Wolverines in a pair of league games this season and lost a nonleague contest.
Post 20 plays Eagle River at 4 p.m. Sunday and Post 15 Palmer at 3 p.m. Monday. The Twins get a bye Tuesday. All games will be streamed at alaskalegionbaseball.com.
The proud Twins program is looking to add to state championships in 1991, 1995, 2012 and 2016.
After missing the state tournament in 1985, Post 20 did not miss state again until 2021. The Twins rebounded from that miss by making it all the way to the semifinals in 2022 and 2023 before losing.
Robb Quelland, the head coach of the Twins, credited Lance Coz for the standard set by the program. Coz, who died in September 2020 at 73, served as general manager and head coach from 1975 until his death.
“We always talked about, all of these teams, it’s kind of a three-year cycle,” Quelland said. “You get good for three years, and then you get to reprogram and develop players for three years.
“We’ve just been blessed with getting good players year after year.”
Post 20’s AA squad is currently in a good cycle, though with the A squad at 22-2, that cycle doesn’t seem likely to stop at three years.
The Twins finished 12-4 in the league and 18-9 overall in the regular season, winning 13 of the last 15 games.
Since Post 20 brings together players from around the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak, the squad typically does not start fast.
“We don’t really have a lot of concerns at the beginning of the season with how we’re playing,” said Quelland, who started coaching with the program in 2013. “We just really hope to peak and play well in the last few weeks of July.
“It seems like we’ve kind of started clicking a little.”
Quelland said there are factors that make the regular season tough for the Twins. Those same factors help the squad come tourney time.
Since Post 20 is more than two hours away from any competition, the team must head north for clusters of games. Similarly, Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders at Coral Seymour Memorial Park are common.
Quelland said the Twins don’t have a lot of players on the roster, so everybody faces quality competition. That depth is vital in the tournament.
“We’re getting a lot of quality out of the players at the lower end of the lineup,” he said. “Some of our bench players are coming in and actually becoming starters.
“It’s just how a long season goes. The players that continue to work hard, stay in shape and stay healthy are the ones that are ready to go in July.”
Quelland said the road trips also help the team bond.
“These young men have to give up a lot to participate in our program,” Quelland said. “It helps us with the camaraderie that’s built.
“Some teams don’t ever click. This one is clicking on all cylinders as a group.”
Quelland said the state tourney is stacked with good teams and good coaches that have a lineup of solid pitchers ready to go.
The head coach believes he has a No. 1 pitcher that can go head to head against anyone in the state. Trenton Ohnemus has pitched 39 innings this summer, striking out 49 and posting an ERA of 1.08.
“I think he ranks right up there with all of them,” Quelland said of Ohnemus. “The big word we use with him is efficiency.
“We want him to finish these games, and if he isn’t efficient in the first, second and third innings, it’s hard to.”
Ohnemus has walked 20 in those 39 innings. Malakai Olson has pitched 36 innings with 39 strikeouts and an ERA of 4.47. Olson has 32 walks, though.
“They’re going to have to limit the walks,” Quelland said of the starters. “We can’t defend the walks.”
Andrew Pieh has an ERA of 1.81 in 19 1-3 innings pitched with 15 strikeouts and 10 walks. Hunter Williams, who was named the top pitcher at the state tournament in 2022, has an ERA of 2.80 in 25 innings pitched. He has struck out 21 and walked 17.
Quelland said Gabe Smith also will be important on the bump. All the pitchers mentioned thus far are right-handed. That’s why Quelland said lefty Matthew Schilling also will play a vital role.
“They can go out and pitch against any of these teams,” Quelland said of his staff. “If they are on, they are great.”
Quelland said the defense is steadied by center fielder Levi Mickelson, who is a four-year Legion player.
On offense, the head coach said Smith, Pieh, Williams and Schilling are all swinging hot bats. Smith is hitting .320 with 15 RBIs, Pieh is hitting .278 with 14 RBIs and Williams is hitting .253 with 15 RBIs.
Quelland said Ohnemus often is overlooked at the plate because he is such a good pitcher. But Ohnemus is hitting .333 with 14 RBIs.
“With the size of our bench, everybody will play, and will be required to play well,” Quelland said. “This is what we worked for all summer long.
“This is what they gave their time for in all those hours and hours of practice.”
Quelland thanked the community for all of the support. He said the Twins have been able to sustain two teams for the past three years and that’s not easy. He said it’s taken players from Seward, Homer, Kodiak and the central peninsula.
Wednesday, Ohnemus, Mickelson, Smith and Pieh played in the Legion All-Star Game at Mulcahy Stadium. They played for the Southern All-Stars, who defeated the Northern All-Stars 8-5.
Smith was 1 for 2 with a run, while the other three went hitless. Ohnemus gave up a run on a hit in an inning, walking one and striking out two. Pieh pitched a scoreless and hitless inning, walking one.
