The boys of summer return this week to compete for the Stanly County Post 76 American Legion baseball program representing a number of local and surrounding high schools along with several players returning from college.

Post 76 has moved its games from Don Montgomery Park in Albemarle to Joe Ferebee Field on the Pfeiffer campus, which head coach Jordan Sells said “is going to be a great thing for our program now and moving forward.”

Sells enters his fourth season as the head coach of Post 76 with a 26-46 overall record. Last season, Stanly went 3-7 in divisional play and finished with a 9-19 overall record. Post 76 won a best-of-three first-round playoff series with Eastern Randolph last year, the first playoff series win for Stanly since 2013.

An assistant coach at West Stanly during the high school season, Sells will be directing a number of Colts on this year’s Post 76 squad. Of the team’s 20 players on the roster, seven either played for West this past season or the year before.

Of the West representatives on the team, Colton Austin (IF/RHP), Cody Kidd (OF/RHP), Riley Huneycutt (OF), Brady Parker (C/IF), Lukas Scott (C/OF) and Trent Wilson (OF/RHP) were on the Colts team in 2019 which finished 21-4 overall.

Austin led the team with a .392 batting average along with a 1.037 on-base plus slugging mark. Parker led West in OBP (.510) while Kidd posted solid numbers for the Colts (.365 avg., .453 OBP, .568 slg.) and led West with 29 RBIs.

Returning to Post 76 from a year of college at Mars Hill is former Colts standout Zach Grice. The lanky left-handed starter made 14 appearances with the Lions this season, finishing 1-2 in three starts and one save with 24 strikeouts in 24.1 innings pitched.

Former Anson County standout Will Dagenhart returns to the team from college. He played for a Methodist Pride team which went 32-9 this season. He rejoins the team this season along with another Anson returnee, A.D. McRae (C/P).

Three current and former North Stanly players join Post 76 this season including Jordan Howard who played for Wingate this past spring. Playing for Stanly will be Western Carolina signee Carson Lowder (.438 avg., 5 HR, 19 RBI) who also pitched for the Comets (20.1 IP, 2-3, 2.07 ERA) and Comets catcher Hunter Sells (.468 avg., 2 HR, 26 RBI, .616 OBP, .806 slg.).

Another player, pitcher Ryan Laton, plays his final year of eligibility out with Stanly County this season. Laton last played in 2018 with South Stanly.

Albemarle will have three players on Post 76 this season including utility and right-handed pitchers Gage Dennis and Zach Simmons along with Morgan Bunch (C/OF).

Gray Stone has one representative on Stanly’s team this season in Jack Foleye (IF/P). This season with the Knights, Foley hit .472 in 15 games with 17 hits and 19 RBIs. The senior also struck out 23 batters in 26.1 innings on the mound posting a 3-4 pitching record for Gray Stone.

Also represented on the team this season are two Piedmont players; Colby Lamm (RHP/C/OF) and Ryan Baucom who was on the developmental baseball roster in 2019 at Methodist University.

Stanly will also have Rockwell Christian Academy’s Cameron Phillips (IF) available this season.

“I think this team has potential to be very competitive this summer. This team could be able to compete at a very high level, if they allow themselves to,” Sells said.

“We have a good mix of returners and new faces. I am excited to have the opportunity to coach this team.”

Sports Editor Charles Curcio can be reached via email at charles.curcio@stanlynewspress.com, 704-983-1361 or Twitter (@charles_curcio).