A new season begins today for Marietta Post 64 Legion baseball, and the team has a new head coach.

Marietta College Director of Athletics Larry Hiser has taken over for Brian Brewer, and will begin his tenure with Post 64 with a 2 p.m. doubleheader today at Barnesville. Hiser last coached for Endicott College from 1995-2008 and is happy to be back in the game.

“When I first made the decision I thought it would be a time constraint,” he said. ” But I come off the field every night saying, ‘Man, that was fun.'”

Post 64 is hoping to have a lot of fun this summer as the club has a busy, competitive schedule, including nine doubleheaders in the first three weeks of the season.

“We have 13 guys on the team, and I’m happy eight of them can pitch,” Hiser said.

“Everybody can play a lot of positions, which is pretty important with the schedule we’re playing.”

Other key parts of the slate are June 21-24, when Post 64 plays at Chillicothe’s annual tournament.

“The four corners of the state of Ohio will be represented,” Hiser said. “We’ll be able to test ourselves against the rest of the state.”

District tournament play begins July 13 at Cambridge. Hiser said district games will be seven innings this year instead of nine.

As far as personnel, Marietta will have five players from last year’s team returning. Frontier graduate Zach Cunningham and Marietta High grads Trent Dawson, Brandon Schamp and Dan Hiser are back along with incoming MHS senior Kail Hill.

The rest of the roster is comprised of six Marietta Tigers (Brady Vincent, Justin Thompson, Derek Duckworth, Corbin Alkire, Dakota Miller and Max Cogswell), one Frontier Cougar (Toby Minder) and one Waterford Wildcat (Brock Hayes).

Dawson, Schamp, Cunningham, Duckworth, Hill, Alkire, Hiser and Cogswell all can eat innings on the mound for Post 64. Hill, Duckworth and Dawson will rotate in the middle infield. Cunningham, who currently plays for Capital, and Hiser, a Marietta College Pioneer, can play the corner infield positions as well as outfield. Thompson and Vincent will split the catching duties with Vincent also capable of playing third base. Look for Minder, Miller, Alkire and Hayes in the outfield.

This year, Post 64 will play the majority of its home games at Legion Field instead of Don Schaly Stadium, though it’s possible a game or two could be played at Schaly.

In lieu of setting specific goals and expectations for this summer, Hiser has told the team to emphasize “getting one out at a time.

“We just want to play good, solid baseball. Be aggressive in the batter’s box and on the basepaths and put pressure on our opponents.”

Marietta Post 64

Baseball Schedule

(Subject to change)

May 28: at Barnesville (DH), 2 p.m.

June 2: at Utica (DH), 1 p.m.

June 3: New Martinsville (DH), 1 p.m.

June 7: Cambridge (DH), 5:30 p.m.

June 9: at Hebron (DH), 1 p.m.

June 10: Sissonville (DH), 1 p.m.

June 12: Beverly/Lowell, 6 p.m.

June 13: at Athens (DH), 6 p.m.

June 16: at Wheeling (DH), noon

June 17: Tuscarawas (DH), 1 p.m.

June 20: Parkersburg (DH), 5:30 p.m.

June 21-24: at Chillictohe Tournament

June 26: at Tuscarawas, 6 p.m.

June 27: Barnesville, 6 p.m.

June 28: at Beverly/Lowell, 5:30 p.m.

June 30: at Moundsville (DH), 1 p.m.

July 3: Beverly/Lowell, 6 p.m.

July 4: Athens (DH), 1 p.m.

July 6: at Cambridge (DH), 5:30 p.m.

July 7: Hebron (DH), 1 p.m.

July 10: at Beverly/Lowell, 5:30 p.m.

July 12: at Waverly, 5:30 p.m.