Greg Vecchi and Charlie Frederick resurrected the Sewickley American Legion baseball program last year and guided the team to a Region 6 playoff berth.

"The program was extinct for a while," said Vecchi, who recently concluded his third season as head coach at Quaker Valley High School. "It was dropped in the late '80s or early '90s. A group of players from Quaker Valley asked what it would take to get a team started. It wasn't as tough as I thought it would be."

Sewickley finished among the top four in the Ohio River League last year and advanced to the Region 6 playoffs before losing to Elizabeth, 6-2, in the first round.

"We have kids from four high school programs: Quaker Valley, Northgate, Avonworth and Sewickley Academy," Vecchi said. "I was a little concerned having so many kids who were not very familiar with each other, but they have adapted very easily.

"My varsity assistant, Charlie Frederick, is my assistant with the Legion team. That helps because we work well together."

Sewickley entered the week with an 11-3 record in the Ohio River League.

"We lost twice last week to West Allegheny and both losses were in extra innings," Vecchi said. "We played West Allegheny three times in six days."

Vecchi has all but three starters back from last year, including five 2006 high school graduates.

Sewickley's top three pitchers are 2006 graduates, and all three are playing college ball.

Justin McGurgan is a lefty from Northgate. Joe Scherer and Greg Frederick are right-handers from Quaker Valley.

McGurgan has a 2-1 record, a 0.61 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 23 innings. When he isn't pitching, McGurgan starts in left field. He is hitting .500, and leads the team in slugging percentage (.813) and on-base percentage (.675).

"Justin is a redshirt freshman at Geneva College," Vecchi said. "Joe and Greg are playing at Penn State Beaver."

Scherer has a 3-0 record, a 1.78 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 19²/₃ innings. He also catches, and has a team-high .537 average with two home runs.

Frederick is 4-2 with a 1.81 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 31 innings. He also plays shortstop and is batting .415 with a team-best 19 RBIs.

"We've given up only 28 runs in our first 14 games," Vecchi said.

The other 2006 graduates are Pat McLaughlin, a third baseman/shortstop from Northgate, and Josh Fortuna, a center fielder from Quaker Valley. McLaughlin has a .421 average and .591 on-base percentage. Fortuna is batting .375 and has a .600 on-base percentage.

The first baseman is Brian Armstrong, a recent Northgate graduate who is batting .441 and has a .564 on-base percentage.

Second base is shared by Dylan DiDomenico and Billy Warwick, who recently completed their junior years at Northgate and Quaker Valley. Sharing right field are two recent graduates, Sewickley Academy's Andy Funk and Quaker Valley's John Foody.

Will Sutherland, a backup infielder and catcher, and Bennet Poepping, a relief pitcher/third baseman, are also seeing significant playing time. Both are from Sewickley Academy.

Aaron Williams, an outfielder/relief pitcher who recently completed his junior year at Quaker Valley, was Vecchi's leadoff hitter until he sustained an ankle injury while playing basketball.