Bedford 1984 American Legion Baseball Team

With many of the same players from the 1984 Bedford High School baseball team, the Bedford American Legion Post 113 team had high hopes as well.
Just like the Bison baseball team, the Legion team broke through where no Bedford team had been before.Bedford won the Region 7 Tournament title, becoming not only the first Bedford team, but also the first Turnpike League team to capture the regional title and advance to states.
The Bedford team had several players from the high school team including Dick Baker, Steve Corley, Rob Doman, Don Elliott, Keith Engle, Ed Hardinger, Matt Logsdon, John Morseberger, Ken Rose, and Brooks Shoemaker, as well as head coach Kevin Kline, who was an assistant coach on the high school team.
The other players on the team were: Cary Grubb, who had graduated from Bedford the year before but had another year of Legion eligibility; Mark Clark from Everett; and Kyle Martz of Hyndman, who were both Bedford County League All-Stars.
The Bedford team blitzed through the regular season with a 17-2 record and scoring in double figures in 14 of those games.
The locals did not slow down in the Turnpike League playoffs, going 3-0 and outscoring their opponents, 45-13, including a 13-0 win over Somerset to clinch the championship.
The team had 10 players advance to the Regional Quarterfinal All-Star Game including Logsdon, Grubb, Doman, Elliott, Clark, Baker, Martz, Rose, Hardinger, and Engle.
The Bedford team had advanced to the regional tournament before, but without much success.
The locals went 4-0 with wins over Sewickley West Newton (9-4), Philipsburg (6-3), and Ebensburg (8-1) before getting to the final against Philipsburg, which was delayed a day and moved to a different field.
In that game, Doman threw a shutout with 6 strikeouts to get Bedford the 3-0 victory, and the tall, left-handed pitcher was named the Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Pitcher of the tournament.
The locals were not as fortunate at the state tournament, where they played the host and perennial power Boyertown.
Between 1969 and 1996, Boyertown won 17 state titles and were in the national championship game 5 times, winning 2.
The Bears had just won 3 state titles in a row and went on to win its fourth straight in 1984. They topped Bedford, 30-8, in the opening game at states.
Coach Kline said, “I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
In the consolation bracket, Bedford had 2-0 lead in the first inning against Carlisle, however the locals lost the game, 7-2.
The team finished the year with a 25-4 record and had won 22 straight heading into the state tournament.
Many of the Bedford players had success after high school and Legion.
- Grubb, who is already in the Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame, went to Clarion and was drafted by the California Angels in the 19th round of the 1987 June Amateur draft. He was the PSAC West Player of the Year and was the MVP of the league in 1985 and the tournament MVP in 1986.
- Doman went on to play at Allegany College of Maryland and James Madison University before being drafted in the 20th round of the 1988 June Amateur draft by the Baltimore Orioles.
- Logsdon played baseball at Virginia Tech.
- Clark played at Elizabethtown College, where he was a 1998 All-MAC Northern Division third baseman.
- Elliott and Beegle both played at Allegany Community College.
- Martz played at Garrett Community College and West Virginia Wesleyan.
The 1984 team won the Turnpike League for the third year in a row on its way to winning 6 straight and 9 titles until the
league consolidated with the Cambria County League.
The 25 wins in a season is tied for the most in Bedford Legion history behind the 29 wins in 1995 and tied with the 1987 team.
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