By ALEX SPONSELLER The Warwick Tree Post junior American Legion team has been one of the top clubs in the state this summer, finishing the regular season with a 9-2 record and claiming the top seed in this week’s state playoffs.

Warwick dropped the first game of the three-game series against R&R Construction on Monday by a score of 10-4. It would rebound the following day with a 7-3 victory to force the deciding game on Wednesday. The results of the final game were not available at press time.

Although Warwick has a young roster, the players are not short on experience which has paid dividends, according to manager Sean Rainey.

“We have a good young nucleus. Our pitching has been great and they’ve being aggressive on the bases. We have five or six kids that just left the eighth grade but lot of these kids played last year, so they have been seasoned and got a feel for what this was going to be like,” said Rainey.

The team has also been embracing the day-by-day approach this summer, which has been vital considering the number of games played in so few days.

“I’ve instilled in them that every game is a new game. You have to come to play every day or someone is going to get you. The (first) game we lost, we made many errors, made some bad baserunning decisions. They weren’t focused. But this team has been 99 percent focused, it was just that one time they weren’t,” said Rainey.

The team entered the playoffs with a deep pitching rotation, which has carried it for much of the season to this point.

“They’re ready. We have six or seven pitchers that can pitch, throw strikes and get outs. Our defense has been outstanding and we can put up runs on offense. We’re pretty stacked as far as pitching goes, the kids have ideas of where they want to go which is regionals. Hopefully we can make it there,” said Rainey.

Win or lose, the team is excited to enjoy the big year and to establish a strong line of talent throughout the entire Warwick Tree Post program.

“It’s going to help the seniors out dramatically because next year, seven of these kids will move up to the team and they’ll be ready to battle with the top teams in the state. They’ll be ready to go and that will benefit the senior team,” said Rainey. “Even if we don’t make it to regionals, this is a bright spot for the program.”

Members of the Warwick junior Legion team include: Aaron Narcavage, Aidan Dumond, Andrew Banspach, Henry Kearns, Dylan Vale, Jack McConnell, Andrew Hatch, Tyler Nadeau, Caydan Landy, Matt Wellington, Dylan Radock, Robbie Petrarca, Vito Vinceguera, Kevin Mitchell, Jaydan Pina, Matt Colvin, Andrew Frenzi.