STAUNTON, Va. – Buckeye Local graduate George Laase long ago made a promise to his father that if he was ever in position to help someone from the Ohio Valley, he would do so.

As manager of the Staunton Braves, a non-profit baseball team in the Shenandoah Valley Baseball League, an elite wood-bat collegiate summer league sponsored in part by Major League Baseball, Laase has kept his word.

”I didn’t have those connections growing up,” Laase said Wednesday night. ”Our kids from the valley deserve as much of a shot as anyone else.”

With that in mind, the Braves signed former Ohio Valley star pitchers Sam Vincenzio (St. Clairsville) and Mark Smyth (Edison) for the 2015 season.

”It’s a small touch of home that I can bring down here,” Laase said.

It’s not as though Laase is giving handouts, though. As manager of a team that has led the league in attendance the last couple years and has won pennants from 1993-95, ’97, ’98, 2000, ’03 and ’09, the job must be taken seriously. The Braves have made the postseason in each of Laase’s first two seasons and are currently 13-7 this year.

The league has 40 active players in the majors and Staunton itself has produced 13 in the last 15 years, including the likes of Jon Jay, Gaby Sanchez, Chris Perez, Luke Scott, Chad Tracy, Aubrey Huff and Jason Michaels. The Braves have had nine players drafted in the last few years.

”I was talking to Mark (on Wednesday) – he’s been here three days – and I asked him what he thought of the league,” Laase recalled. ”He said ‘there are a lot of good baseball players in this league.’

”I told him, ‘yes there are Mark. But you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t one of them.’ ”

Vincenzio, who spent three years at Potomac State and is committed to Division-II St. Thomas Acquinas in Sparkhill, N.Y., has seen immediate success. The left-hander has made three appearances, starting once, and pitched 9.2 innings. Vincenzio has eight strikeouts and an ERA of 0.93.

”Sammy is starting to develop a changeup again,” Laase said. ”He played with us for two weeks in 2013 as a late pickup. He’s a full-season contract this year.

”I can see the change physically and in his demeanor and appearance.”

Smyth, who has starred at West Liberty, is scheduled to make his first appearance tonight.

”He is chomping at the bit,” Laase said. ”He is going to work in relief and his job is to come in and eat up inning.

”Those were two of the premier kids in the OVAC and had great coaches in Tom Sliva and Mike Collopy.

”They’re hard-working kids with a blue-collar mentality.”

They have to be.

A little less than 50 percent of the league is made up of Division-I athletes, some of whom came straight from Super Regionals and others that competed in the College World Series.

”We talk about it in all sports – all it takes is one opportunity to be seen by someone,” Laase said. ”A lot of kids that go to D-II, D-III, they were just in the wrong place.

”Many of these guys were major contributors this spring in Division I and a lot of them were redshirted so this gives them a chance to catch up.”

Laase said the two local pitchers are a lot alike, and not just because they hail from the Ohio Valley.

”They’ve both overcome adversity with some injuries,” Laase said. ”Like any Ohio Valley resident, we look adversity in the eye and we’re never going to settle.

”The hardest fact that you can stress to all student-athletes, whether you’re in small-town West Virginia or Division I in Ohio, is someone is practicing harder and working longer to get your scholarship. What are you going to do?

”We’ve had a great foundation set by the greatest generation that fought in wars, our grandparents.

”We in the Ohio Valley know what it’s like to work hard for something.”