American Legion Post 295 Team Off to Hot Summer Start

Steve Cononie's signature line on his email reads: "Defense + Hitting - Errors = WINS."

It's a simple yet effective philosophy.

The manager of American Legion Post 295 junior baseball team believes it is the simple things — the fundamentals of hard work and mental toughness — that win baseball games. And it's a philosophy he has imparted on his group of high-school-aged baseball players.

As the defending Potomac Division Junior League Champions and a team that competed in the national championship tournament in Tennessee last summer, it's been an effective strategy. Cononie once again has high hopes for his baseball team as the new season rolls on.

The season began in mid-May, and through 14 games, the team is 9-5 on the young season and is coming off a 5-0 win over Mt. Airy, Md.

Some of the players on Cononie's roster to keep an eye on include: Sean Baccus (currently batting .500) and Max Banks (.486). Northwest's Tony Cianci is one of the staff's aces and is 4-0 on the season. Steve D'Amato, Joey Moeltner, and Jason Williams are among some of the other stars Cononie said he is expecting big things from this season.

Cononie said his team is also looking forward to upcoming tournaments such as the July 4 weekend tournament in Cumberland, Md., which will feature 18 teams from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. He said he is also trying to get the team involved in more regional tournaments.

American Legion baseball is not new to the Germantown area. Gaithersburg Post 295 has been in existence since the early 1980s and has been a successful program in the state. But the idea to create a junior program — for players 17 and younger — is relatively new.

Cononie's team competes against teams from all over the state, just as its senior league counterpart does, and has already established rivalries with teams from Frederick, Md., Mt. Airy, and Willaimsport, Md. — all programs with junior legion teams that feed into its senior teams. Cononie compared it to how professional baseball works, where you have a major league team that has as many as six or seven minor league teams that feed into it.

Cononie said the main goal for the junior league is to develop players and prepare them for the next level.

"Watching the junior guys progress into the senior program is very rewarding," Cononie said, adding that players can move back and forth between the junior and senior ranks as needed. "Our team is 17 and under, which means we can have players at all levels and help them develop as they make the move to the senior league."

The team's next game is tomorrow, Saturday, June 18, against Cumberland.