West Deer's first-year manager, Phil Casale, is looking for American Legion Post 593 to move up the ladder of respectability in the Allegheny River League.

West Deer (3-4-1) has a losing record, but most of those defeats have come in competitive games.

"It's one of our better starts out of the gate in a long time," Casale said. "We're really trying to win and have lost some tough battles. The boys really feel like they can win this year. The kids have had a great attitude."

West Deer draws its players from Deer Lakes High School. That puts the team at a disadvantage because many of the other teams in the Allegheny River League draw from more than one school district. In the case of Shaler, Penn Hills, Monroeville and Plum, some Legion teams are derived from school varsity programs that compete in WPIAL Class AAAA in the spring. Deer Lakes is a Class AA school.

"Baseball is one of those sports where it's how well you perform as a group that can make the difference and not necessarily how you are classified as a school system," Casale said. "We have proven we can be competitive. We beat Monroeville this year, so we're certainly capable of playing with the large school districts."

The roster is a mixture of players who recently graduated from Deer Lakes as well as a large nucleus who belong to the class of 2007 -- infielder/pitchers Mike Katich and Aaron DeLucia, catcher Jim Suchevich and pitcher/outfielder Rob Baumgartel.The recent high school graduates are outfielders Devin Mattes and John Sullivan and first baseman Scott Orris.

The youngest players on the team include utility player Ed Wesolek and pitcher/infielder Jeff Kaufmann who just completed their sophomore years of high school.

West Deer is led by three 19-year-old players in their final season of Legion baseball. Two of the veterans -- shortstop/pitcher Tony Casale and center fielder Ben Potter -- are with college programs at Thiel College and Geneva College, respectively.

Neither played much in the spring for their college teams. Casale appeared in only one game for Thiel and Potter collected only two base hits at Geneva. Tony Casale is the son of the West Deer manager.

"[Tony] got some mixed playing time with junior legion ball while he was still playing [senior] Little League as a 13-year-old and just fell in love with the program," Phil Casale said. "This is his fifth year with the [senior legion] team. We felt we should keep it together. Tony and Ben Potter have both been real leaders for the younger guys coming up.

"Ben directs a lot of the traffic and defensive calls in the outfield and Tony does the same on the infield. They're knowledge from being with a college program has been able to help our younger guys, too. I'm hoping that both can come back next year in some type of assistant coaching capacity to help out. It's definitely been a good program for the kids."

He pitched a three-hitter against Plum, but came out on the short end of a 1-0 score. Other competitive losses include 8-7 and 6-5 defeats to Brackenridge.

"I don't even know when Post 593 last made the playoffs, but I know the kids have the desire and feel they have the opportunity to make it this year," Casale said. "The one-run games say a lot about their attitude. We still have a lot of season in front of us. The kids are playing hard and they play well together."

The other player in his final year of eligibility is third baseman Jesse Suedtic, who attends Penn State-Behrend but does not play college baseball.

Deer Lakes did not make the WPIAL playoffs this spring, but the college-age players on the West Deer roster helped lead the Lancers varsity to the scholastic playoffs in 2006.

West Deer is fortunate that its home field -- the West Deer/William Fish Field -- is owned by the legion post that sponsors the team.

"We are one of the few teams whose legion hall owns the field, so we don't have to borrow a high school field. We have our own facility," Casale said. "Post 593 helps us with the upkeep of the field. They have really invested in the team and the kids in the community. Jim Yaconis, our business manager, recently did a lot of alumni fund-raising to get us dugouts at the field for the first time this year. It's no longer just little wood benches there. We have a nice covered dugout."