Photo by Cody Nespor Wheeling catcher Jack Selmon, right, tags out Parkersburg baserunner Bentley Kinzer at home plate during Post 1’s game against Parkersburg Post 15 this season.

WHEELING — Five local baseball teams will take the J.B. Chambers I-470 Baseball Complex this week fighting to keep their legion baseball seasons alive.

The Area One Legion Baseball Double-Elimination Tournament kicks off today at 5 p.m. as Moundsville Post 3 takes on Wellsburg Post 34. That game will be followed by Follansbee Post 45 vs. Wheeling Post 1 at 7:30 p.m.

The winner of Moundsville and Wellsburg will take on the top seed and defending Area One Champion Parkersburg Post 15 on Wednesday.

Parkersburg manager Mike Goodwin is happy with the top seed and first-round bye but he knows everything starts fresh this week.

“Our mindset is the same as last year,” Goodwin said. “Our goal is to win the Area Tournament but you have to be careful. We had a decent regular season but everyone is 0-0 now. You have to take care of business. That was my message to the team.”

Goodwin also understands the importance of pitching during the double-elimination tournament.

“Pitching is big,” Goodwin said. “We have to be prepared to go deep into the bullpen in case a starter doesn’t go deep into the game.

“That puts pressure on our staff but this tournament is no different than any other. You have to play to win like there is no tomorrow.”

Post 1 dropped last year’s Area One Championship to Parkersburg and Wheeling skipper Jon-Michael Brunner is looking to bring the hardware back to his hometown.

“We’re pretty happy with the two-seed,” Brunner said. “We’ll play Tuesday and if we win we could get a day off. We stressed to these guys that we can’t get off to a bad start. We can’t give up a crooked number in the first inning but I have confidence in these guys.”

Again, pitching looks to be the most important factor in the tournament.

“Everybody is ready to rock ‘n’ roll,” Brunner said. “Everybody is fresh. (Pitching coach) Dustin Henry has been doing a great job of keeping track of everyone’s innings. I made the mistake three years ago of trying to manage our pitching on my own and I told Dustin that he is in charge of that now.”

Follansbee is in its first year of playing legion ball and the squad is filled with youngsters but manager Rob McMahons doesn’t believe they’ll back down to Wheeling in the opening round.

“We’re playing to win,” McMahons said. “There is no sense of going unless you’re playing to win. For our first year it’s been a good ride. We’ve learned a lot as coaches and I know the kids have learned a lot, too. We’re excited to be the No. 3 seed and we’ll be looking to get stronger every year.”

In today’s opening matchup, Post 34 will count on the talent that got it here.

“We’ll lean on the older kids,” Wellsburg coach Micah Knisely said. “We’ll probably lean on Andrew Coursin and Clyde Vanderpool for experience but the younger kids will have to kick in there, too. We’re not too deep pitching-wise.”

Coursin is batting .510 this summer and has 31 strikeouts in 31 innings pitched. He’s also thrown 313 of his 446 pitches for strikes. Vanderpool has 14 punchouts in 11 frames, while Zach O’Meary swings a good bat at a .300 clip as he prepares for his freshman high school season.

“We have to do a good job of pitching and hitting,” Knisely said. “Wheeling and Parkersburg will pound the ball so if you are going to keep up with the big boys you have to outslug them, which will be hard.”

Post 3 is dealing with some injuries but skipper Tim Koontz is hopeful his squad will be ready to go come game time.

“We’re waiting on some injured kids but hopefully we’ll get some good pitching and hitting,” Koontz said. “If Luke Crammer is ready to go he will probably go and Ricky Booth and Will McGinnis may be able to throw some relief innings, as well.”

The double-elimination tournament will continue until Friday and possibly Saturday if a winner-take all contest is needed.

“We want everybody to come out,” Brunner said. “There’s going to be some good games, the weather is supposed to be nice. It will be a good time.”