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Under new management

Post 104 welcomes old friend as new manager

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Joe Stolz has been affiliated with Gaithersburg Post 104 as its general manager since the team’s inception roughly 25 years ago. But this is the first year he will actually coach the team after Gaithersburg High coach Jason Woodward decided not to return as the manager this summer.Woodward has instead become the Montgomery County American Legion commissioner for the recently retired Ken Brace, who held that post for 25 years. Woodward was the Post 104 manager for three years.

‘‘We were hoping he would do it again but he’s going to be the legion commissioner,” Stolz said. ‘‘I’m going to do it for at least a year.”

Stolz brings an extensive coaching resume (42 years in all), including guiding many of the current players on this year’s Gaithersburg and Quince Orchard High baseball rosters having been the Gaithersburg Sports Association’s 15-year-old coach the past 14 years.

The new Post 104 manager inherits a loaded squad that should once again contend for its first county tournament title since 2001 when Roy Belyea was the manager.

‘‘I think it’s a pretty good team,” Stolz said. ‘‘As good as anybody with as good a chance as anybody to win it. Obviously, 295 is a great team. They have a lot of great players. I have great respect for them. More than a third [of his current roster] were on my 15- year-old-team.”

Headlining the team’s stacked roster are returning college players Ian Marshall (Gaithersburg⁄University of Richmond), Marty Cornish (Wootton⁄Montgomery College-Germantown), William Greenberg (Wootton⁄Washington College) and Mike Allred (Wootton⁄Montgomery College-Rockville).

Marshall was a first-team All-Gazette selection in 2005 and a starting pitcher for Richmond this spring. Greenberg hit .297 with nine doubles, two home runs and 12 RBI this past spring. Allred compiled a 4-7 record with a 4.92 earned-run average in 67 2⁄3 innings for the Knights (15-34). Cornish (.331, 3 HR, 38 RBI, 6-4 record) and Greenberg will be playing for the GSA’s Eddie Brooks team as well.

Wootton’s quartet of Alex Bastow, Peter Barrett, Bobby Kim and Dennis Schoonmaker; Gaithersburg’s Richard Phillips and Mike Lee; Magruder’s Matt Sweeney, Ross Sweeney and Mitch Levine; and Watkins Mill’s Wes Shifflet are the team’s other key players.

Bastow compiled a .420 average with thee home runs and 23 RBI. Barrett had a breakout year, batting .368 with five home runs and 20 RBI and compiling a 6-0 record with two saves and a 1.44 ERA. Kim smacked six home runs and went 5-0 on the mound with a 1.95 ERA. Schoonmaker added 16 RBI and a 3-1 record for the Patriots this past spring.

Gaithersburg Post 104 Manager: Joe Stolz, 1st year Last year’s record: 27-8 (2nd place in the county) Last county title: 2001 Last state title: None Players to watch: INF Matt Sweeney, P⁄INF Bobby Kim, C Richard Phillips

Phillips, a catcher⁄pitcher for the Trojans, compiled a .382 average with three home runs and 20 RBI and had a 4-0 record with a 2.10 ERA. Lee batted .367 with 11 RBI.

Matt Sweeney, a professional prospect, belted 11 home runs this past spring with 36 runs scored and 36 RBI. His cousin Ross, a second baseman, added a .473 average with 20 runs and 22 RBI and Levine, who is headed to George Mason University (Va.), hit at a .493 clip with 14 RBI, 24 runs and 20 stolen bases. The lefty throwing Shifflet, who is headed to Towson University, compiled a 3-3 record with a 2.40 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 45 innings.

Post 104 reached the county tournament final a year ago before being swept by Gaithersburg Post 295 by the scores of 7-5 and 13-3 last July.