Powered By Both Stalwarts And Newcomers, Post 1 Keeping Winning Tradition
WHEELING -- After winning the W.Va. American Legion state championships in 2024 and 2025, Wheeling Post 1 was riding high heading into the summer season of 2026. With a loaded lineup of returners and exciting new faces, Wheeling is rounding third and heading home on another impressive regular season, and eyeing another playoff run.
Post 1 is 21-5 with only a couple games left in their regular season schedule, and the Area 1 Tournament set to start on Tuesday against Ritchie County Post 83.
Though Wheeling has piled up the W's, pitching coach Dustin Henry says the team is still a ways away from their benchmark.
"Three years in a row, in ’23, ’24, and ’25, we won 30 games," Henry said in an interview after Wednesday's victory over Moundsville Post 3. "Actually, I think it was 31 wins two years ago, but usually a 30-win season is a very good season. We usually play about 38 to 40 games. So if you can be, 30-10, 30-8, that’s a pretty successful season.
"At least 10 more to go and then hopefully we can win state, win region, and get to national. That’s kind of our ultimate goal."
Post 1 has plenty of players that returned this summer from last year's state championship squad, but Wheeling also added to their championship core with the additions of new faces to the clubhouse like Andrew Murdock, Kayden Knapp, Aleks Zanieski, Nolan Yanchak and Steven Brodegard.
Murdock, who played for the Brooke Bruins in the spring, was part of an independent travel team out of Pennsylvania last summer, but has since joined Post 1-- and has made a quick impact.
Murdock leads Post 1 in RBI with 20, and has slashed .368/.465/.509 at the plate while posting a 2.43 ERA in limited innings on the mound.
"It’s a lot of fun," Murdock said of his time with Post 1. "You know, all these guys want to win and everyone’s here to compete."
"Andrew Murdock, OVAC 5A Player of the Year from Brooke, we asked him to come aboard, and he wanted to come be part of our winning tradition," Henry said. "He’s helped us out a lot in right field and on the mound. And obviously at the dish, he’s been huge as well."
Knapp went to John Marshall High School and has played in only 10 games for Post 1, though his impact has been felt.
"He can really run up the gun," Henry said of Knapp. "I mean, he can sit about 85, 86, run it up to 87. He’s got a really good four-seam. He’s got a sinker that gets into a righty’s fist and then kind of fade away from a lefty. He’s got a really, really great wipeout slider. He can sometimes have a little bit of a control issue, but if he can control that in the zone, his stuff’s pretty much unhittable. He’s got a splitter to complement that as well.
"Four-seam, sinker, splitter, and slider is a great four-pitch repertoire. If he’s in the zone with all that stuff, he’s pretty pretty much unhittable."
Knapp has felt the love since moving from Moundsville Post 3 last summer to Wheeling Post 1 this go-round.
"I like the way things are run here, and I think it’s gone pretty well," Knapp said. "I think it’s been great. I mean, even from day one, it just felt like I was supposed to be there. Everyone was very inviting."
Zanieski, currently attending Weir High, has slashed .315/.465/.500 in 20 games this summer, and has pitched the second-most innings on the team with 26.1, striking out 45 in those frames.
"He was a kid that caught our eye a couple of games against [Wheeling] Central in the district playoffs, and then a game that he pitched against Linsly really caught our eye," Henry said. "I thought he could help us out on the mound, and obviously he’s been great at first base and at the plate for us as well."
Yanchak, who played his high school ball for Wheeling Park, has manned the catcher spot for Post 1 in 23 games this year with a .869 OPS at the dish. Henry noted that he is a West Liberty commit for next Spring, having graduated from Park.
Brodegard, a multi-time all-stater for Wheeling Central, has pitched 21.1 innings for Post 1, striking out 29 with a 2.95 ERA.
Pitching has been a strength for Post 1, who have faced teams from West Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland this season. Wheeling has six players who have pitched over 10 innings across their 26 games, led by Tucker Doty, who has tossed 31.1 innings, striking out 33 and pitching to a 2.23 ERA.
"Really behind our success is our pitching staff really just staying in the zone, not getting behind in counts," Murdock said. "When we get ahead in counts, not a lot of teams are going to hit off of us.
"Some of the struggles we’ve had is when we get behind 1-0, 2-0, then we have to just resort to a fastball and they’re waiting on that-- and another thing, we got to clean up the errors. The past couple games we’ve had probably three or four. It’s been bad, they haven’t really led to anything major, but when we get downstate, it’s going to be the difference in a game."
New faces like Zanieski, Brodegard and others have made for a bit of a new learning curve for the coaching staff. Henry, in his 10th year coaching with Post 1, feels they're in a good spot.
"I've seen really positive team bonding, bringing everybody together," he said. "You know, especially myself as the pitching coach, some of these guys I’ve never coached before, so I need to know where their strengths and weaknesses are and we're using that to our ability. We're figuring out certain counts, what pitch can make them succeed and get a batter out."
Post 1 has a team ERA of just 2.34.
At-bat, among players with at least 40 plate appearances, Post 1 has five players sporting an OPS above 1.000-- Brody Groome (1.098), Dom Fato (1.100), Jake Brown (1.137), Brady Ernest (1.289), and Chris Upton (1.224).
Even though the team has seen success both last year and this year, Brown, a returner from last year's state title team, says this year's team is operating a little differently at the plate.
"Our pitching staff is really good this year, and we put the ball in play with two strikes," the Wheeling Central soon-to-be-senior said of his team's success. "We’re getting better at that throughout the year. We don’t have as much power as last year, but we definitely have a lot more guys who'll put the ball in play hard and find some gaps."
"We take every practice seriously," Erik Blazier, another player returning from last year's squad, said. "We always get a lot of hitting in. We always throw some bullpens. We always practice like we play, and with a lot of efficiency and purpose."
Blazier has a 1.79 ERA in 15.2 innings for Wheeling.
With the Area 1 Tournament on the horizon, Henry isn't mincing words about Post 1's goal.
"We’re trying to three-peat."