Legion baseball is back in town after a one-year hiatus, and appears to have a solid team for the 2009 season with Pembroke’s Ryan Kane managing and General Manager Peter Bizinkauskas running the organization.

Post #223 is carrying an 18-man squad with the majority of the players coming from Duxbury High School, and complimented by All-Stars Danny Findley (Roxbury Latin) and Billy Hocking (BC High). Connor McCarthy (Pendleton, FL), Richard Upson (Marshfield), and Mike Russell (Marshfield) are the other non-DHS players on the roster.

While play was to begin last Monday night for Post #223, the MIAA baseball tournament forced the postponement of the team’s first three games due to the fact that several players from each opponent were still participating in the high school play offs.

The rest and last week’s weather didn’t seem to help Duxbury, as they lost their opener on Friday night to Wareham Post 220, 10-0, in a five-inning slaughter rule decision.

DHS senior-to-be Jeff Blout got the call in the opener and didn’t seem to be on his game, as he surrendered a first-inning home run to Ryan Delgado that proved to be the eventual game winner.

Wildness put Blout in a hole in the third inning, as two walks and a double loaded the bases with no outs. A two-run single and a sacrifice fly drove home three more runs to support the pitching of Ben Church, who cruised through the Duxbury lineup by allowing just two hits in five inning.

Duxbury High School’s Tom Kazanowski relieved Blout in the top of the fourth inning and was rudely greeted by the visitors, who put together a six-run inning with a walk, five hits, and a passed ball to make it 10-0.

Joe Coyne took over for Kazanowski in the top of the fifth and recorded a strikeout while holding Wareham in check, while Church went out in style, getting the final two batters to look at third strikes.

“It was good to face a different team with a different uniform,” said Kane. “We’ve been playing intra-squad games the past week and we were supposed to play three games against very good opponents that got cancelled. It was rough, but it was a good experience for the kids. We’ll be fine. We’re deep, but we’re young. It just becomes a matter of getting the feet wet of our younger guys and our veterans showing some leadership.”

The team traveled to Sandwich on Sunday night and had a much better performance, but it still wasn’t good enough to bring home their first win, as they lost to Sandwich, 5-2.

The return of BC High School star Billy Hocking, fresh off his State championship win on Saturday, aided Post #223, as the Catholic Conference All-Star doubled in the first inning and rode home on a two-run home run off the bat of catcher Danny Findley.

That would be all the offense Duxbury would get, as Sandwich pitcher Al Stanton fanned 11 with an assortment of pitches that kept the visitors off balance all night.

Marshfield’s Rich Upson did his best to keep Duxbury in the game, as he allowed five runs over six innings and struck out three.

Next up for Post #223 is a game with Rockland on Wednesday night at Chandler Field starting at 7 p.m.