Veteran Post 21 baseball squad features 12 returning players

When the Burke County Post 21 American Legion baseball team opens the 2026 season next week, the squad will feature plenty of familiar faces.

Post 21’s 16-man roster features 11 players who return from the 2025 team, plus another player who didn’t play legion ball last summer but did two years ago.

Among that number, Post 21 welcomes back five players who were on collegiate rosters this spring plus three more who are committed to college programs as part of the 2026 recruiting class.

That veteran corps represents a wealth of pitching depth, and add in the fact that the club’s fourth-year head coach, Matt Baker, and two of his Patton players who are on the Post 21 roster just finished the county’s longest prep baseball playoff run in a decade and a half, and the expectations keep getting bigger.

“The summer can eventually start to drag a little bit,” Baker acknowledged, “but for these guys especially who have already played college baseball or are going to, it’s a group that I think will be locked in the whole summer.

“The returners are going to be a big help, and I feel like this year, our pitching staff can be really good. I think we have the best arms in the county. We’ve certainly got a lot of good arms this year.”

That pitching staff includes Patton products Cohen Christian and Aaron Duncan (Post 21’s only fourth-year senior legion player), Freedom’s Kaden Michaels, Kyle Self, and Zach Carson, East Burke’s Maddox Mosteller, Mason Mosteller, and Barger Shook, Draughn’s Nolan Ballard, and West Caldwell’s Joshton Blankenship.

Self, Shook, and Mason Mosteller each pitched collegiately this spring, while Christian, Michaels, and Maddox Mosteller served as their staff aces at the prep level locally.

Carson has played outfield and hasn’t pitched for Post 21 in the past, though he also got experience from the mound this spring at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte.

Baker said that Mason Mosteller “will throw a lot for us when I can afford to take him off shortstop.”

Elsewhere around the infield, Michaels, Shook, and Rhett Houston (East Burke) are all options at first base, Cannon Morrison (East Burke) can play middle infield when not catching, and Baker expects Blankenship can play either middle infield or third base.

Duncan and Maddox Mosteller have started for the club, and both provide third-base depth, while Patton playoff hero Trevor Throneburg will catch alongside Morrison. And Alex Mann (Draughn) will also supply some infield depth.

In the outfield, Ballard, Shook, and Carson remain options, as are projected super-utility player Morrison and returners Brooks Snipes (Freedom) and Zeb Koone (McDowell).

Baker’s coaching staff also has experience. It consists of Jonathan Browning, Post 21’s former head coach who returns for a fourth season as an assistant coach, as well as pitching coach Tony Grady, who enters the second season of his third stint as a Post 21 assistant.

Baker hopes that roster can deliver a winning season, which would be Post 21’s first since 2010 when Baker was in his final season as a player with the team.

“The last couple years haven’t been our best,” Baker said. “Two years ago, we didn’t really have it in gear, did upset Caldwell in the playoffs there near the end, so that’s always nice to beat those guys. And then last year we started and finished pretty good, but that middle part of the season killed us.

“My hope is we can put it all together this summer. We’ve looked good at practice, and it’s a group of guys that knows each other and likes to play together.”

Post 21’s recently announced 16-game regular-season schedule begins Friday, May 29, on the road against Asheville Post 70 at West Henderson High School. Asheville is the No. 1 squad in the N.C. American Legion baseball preseason rankings.

“That very first game will give us a great gauge for where we’re at,” Baker said. “Not everyone, but the league in general in my opinion is going to be a little down compared to last year, whereas I think we can be better.

“Of course, you’ve got Asheville, who reached the World Series and brings back about that same team. But legion baseball is tough to figure. It’s basically an all-star team from each county, but you don’t know who you’re playing against versus who’s playing travel. The bottom line is I feel like with the players we have, we can compete every night.”

Post 21’s schedule also includes home contests at Shuey Field on June 7 (versus Rutherford County Post 423), June 8 (vs. Shelby Post 82), June 16 (vs. Asheville), June 20 (vs. Hickory Post 48), June 27 (vs. Cherryville Post 100), June 28 (vs. Gaston Post 144-266), June 30 (vs. Gastonia Post 23), and July 1 (vs. Caldwell County Post 29).

All of those contests start at 7 p.m. with the exception of the home opener, which is a 5 p.m. doubleheader.

Of note, Post 21’s N.C. Area IV is down one team for a second consecutive summer as Wilkes County Post 31 is not fielding a team. That leaves nine teams fighting for eight playoff spots.

All three rounds of the area playoffs will be best-of-five series, starting July 4. And in theory, the Area IV champion will not have to leave western North Carolina en route to this year’s World Series (Aug. 13-18), which is again hosted by Shelby’s Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium.

The state tournament (July 25-29) will be held at Sims Legion Park in Gastonia, and the Southeast Regional (Aug. 5-9) shifts from Asheboro to Cherryville’s Fraley Field.