Northwood baseball coach Dave Russell doesn't have any problem sending his players to play for coach Don “Chopper” Schmeltz and Pemberville American Legion Freedom Post 183.

Neither do most other area high school coaches.

“Chopper has done it all,” said Russell, an assistant under Schmeltz this summer who played for Post 183 in the mid-1980s. “He has time in the spring and he goes to games and starts beating the bushes, talking to the guys. He says, 'Hey, I'm putting together a team this summer. It's Legion ball and it's good competition.' A lot of the coaches in the area respect Legion baseball and the quality baseball it is.

Pemberville Freedom American Legion Post 183 pitcher, Brandon Mahoney, shown during his just completed sophomore season playing for Coach Dave Russell at Northwood. (Press photo by Don Thompson/ picasaweb.google.com/donrachael)

“Chopper's been coaching for 40 years and he's been with this Legion team since around 1985. He's a no-nonsense type of guy. He tells it like it is. He's got a lot of knowledge, a lot of contacts, and he's put over 300 kids in college. That's one of the reasons we at Northwood try to push our kids this way. Pretty much every college coach knows him and if he gives a kid a recommendation, it's going to be a good one.”

This year's Pemberville squad features more than a dozen high school players from the Press coverage area. Every Post 183 player must be 19 or under. Post 183, which had a 15-15 record heading into Wednesday's game, only has two players who will be over the age limit next season.

“We have a tough schedule and we're a pretty young team,” Russell said. “We're carrying 21 kids and most of them will come back next year and have the opportunity to come back the next couple years. We have a lot of 16-year-olds on the team this year. Some of the teams in our district are some of the best teams in the state.”

Five Northwood players — Nick Russell, Cam Juhasz, Justin Rohrs, Anthony Rorigi and Brandon Mahoney — play for Post 183 this summer. Russell is batting .378 with a team-high five home runs.

Other local players include outfielder/pitcher Ross Achter (.404), second baseman J.J. Miller (.333) and pitcher/outfielder Brett Jordan from Clay, and catcher/outfielder Corey Hotmer (.326), outfielder/pitcher Josh Tantari (.303) and infielder/outfielder Ryan Kohlhofer (.306) from Lake.

Brandon Maze, a catcher/pitcher/outfielder and a 2010 Lake grad, is batting .353. Post 183's roster also includes outfielder Kris Hayward from Eastwood (.245) and catcher/outfielder Jake Zollinger (.396) from Woodmore.

“The two older guys, Maze and Zollinger, they're leaders,” Dave Russell said. “They've been around a while. This is their third year and their last year (with Post 183). They do a good job leading the team and they're good bench guys. Zollinger is going to Adrian (Mich.) College and he's been ripping the baseball this year. He's had a lot of key hits and a lot of RBIs.”

Pemberville's top two pitchers are Juhasz, who led Northwood to its second straight Toledo Area Athletic Conference title this spring, and Devon Tantari from Otsego. Post 183 also has players from Elmwood, Bowling Green, Fostoria and North Baltimore.

Last Sunday, Post 183 played in front of a scout from the Seattle Mariners. Dave Russell said that's nothing out of the ordinary.

“We get somebody out there just about every night,” he said. “The pros are here all the time, the colleges are here all the time. We preach to the kids that you're being watched all the time. There are very few games where there isn't at least one pro or college scout sitting in the stands. I don't think it really bothers any of these guys. It's a pretty level-headed group.

“This year our youth has reared its ugly head, but we're playing great competition and that's going to make them better when they go back to their high schools. If we keep this team together the next few years, they have the potential to be a very good Legion team.”

Post 183 plays in a tournament in Lancaster, Ohio, this weekend, and its district tournament starts the second week of July.

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