Chasing Seven: Post 13 eyes bringing another state title to Tallahassee in 2022

It's all about building young men and winning championships for Post 13 baseball.

As the season heats up, they are on a quest to win their seventh consecutive American Legion Baseball State Championship.

Behind the leadership of head coach Wes Singletary, Post 13 has some of the area's top talent on the clay from the past and present.

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American Legion Post 13 baseball history

Approaching a century of American Legion baseball, Post 13 has an extensive background on the diamond.

Beginning in 1925, American Legion baseball was utilized to train the young participates to grow to be productive citizens as legendary area players were team affiliates in some capacity.

"American Legion baseball in Florida has been around 100 years -- they've been playing in Tallahassee for at least that long," Singletary said. "It's been a number of guys over the years that have been outstanding coaches -- Lane Green, Bill Bellflower.

"A lot of the major baseball guys around Tallahassee played it. Mr. Bellflower had been there for close to 20 years and stopped doing it in the late 1990's so for about 12-13 years, there was no Post 13 baseball and a lot of guys went to other travel ball options."

With the help of former Leon and Florida State pitcher Doug Treadway, Singletary reinstalled the team in 2012.

Former Liberty County and Post 13 athlete Noah Davis is now on board with the coaching staff too.

Assembling a winning roster for Post 13

To build a team, Singletary attends local and nearby prep games to scout talent and offer them a roster spot or a tryout.

Included in his active roster is District 3-4A Player of the Year Colby Zinser of Wakulla, 3A All-State Ethan Miller of Florida High, and Leon graduate/Tallahassee Community College commit Austin Rayborn.

"During the high school season, I go to close to 30 games just to get the feel for the kind of player I want," Singletary said. "I approach their parents to let them know what we're doing with Post 13.

"We help a lot of kids play. I think we're much more affordable. It's $400 instead of $2,000 like other travel ball teams. If a kid wants to play but parents can't afford it, then I'll go out and find someone to sponsor him. The Sauls-Bridges is also one of our biggest sponsors.

19-year old's are eligible to play if born after January. That allowed the Rickards alumnus and current Jackson State infielder Lawrence Steed III to compete in the 2022 season.

Additionally, Post 13 has athletes that have crossed state lines in Bainbridge's Ryles Burch and Cason Priest. The move was allowed by the state director due to the distance between the closest American Legion in Georgia.

Post 13 has produced current collegiate athletes such as: Brad Lord (Wakulla/USF), Joe Ruth (Oak Hall/LaGrange College), and Jared Weber (Wakulla/Florida A&M).

Chiefland native and Oak Hall alumnus Joe Ruth was named USA South Player of the Year, First-Team Division III All-American, and First-Team All Division III World Series.

Ruth played for Post 13 from 2016-19. His siblings, Rich and Neil are former and current Post 13 athletes.

"We got Joe because his older brother, Rich played here," Singletary said. "He started playing for me part-time at 14-years old while his brother was on the team. I couldn't get any of the schools around here to take him because him because of his size.

"Joe had one of the greatest college baseball seasons I've ever seen at LaGrange and led his team to the world series through two of his teammates being killed in a car wreck after winning the conference championship. He has another year left and is working on his Masters degree. He's a hard working kid and sticks it out to get better every year. That's the kind of kid we like to have here."

Success is hard to come by when you don't have the right people surrounding you. So Singletary is thankful for his teams contributing to his success.

"We've been very fortunate," he said. "A good coach is only as good as his players. I could be Billy Martin but if I don't have good players, I'm not going to win.

"We've had boys who've played hard and won a lot of ball games for us. I look for a guy that's going to come out here, have fun and not detract from everybody else. I don't want a kid that's all into himself and don't get along with his teammates. I want to see these boys come together as a group."

Championship pedigree

Post 13 is riding on six consecutive Florida American Legion Baseball State Championships.

But it came after squandering a seven and four run lead in 2013 against Jacksonville Post 88 in an eventful night in Sanford.

"In 2013, we came a hogs breath of winning a state championship," Singletary said. "Jacksonville beat us and went to the world series.

"We didn't start that game until 10 at night because of the weather. And then there was two cars shooting at each other in the middle of the game so we had to hit the ground and that postponed the game. That might have been the hardest hitting team I had. We just didn't have the pitching."

Post 13 avenged the championship loss against Jacksonville three years later.

They brought the state title crown back to Tallahassee after three decades following a 13-1 victory over Jacksonville Post 88 at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie.

This marked the beginning of the dynasty that have secured six straight championships.

"In 2015 I said if we're going to do this, we're going to do it right and we had a team that won the first state championship for Tallahassee in over 30 years," Singletary said. "Nobody's won it since.

"We brought out one of our top-two pitchers we've ever had Thomas Nicoll from Leon and TCC. From the first game of the season that team was probably the most competitive team I've had. We went to Perfect Game as the only American Legion team out of the 70 that were there and finished third place."

Having a trio of returning players, Singletary tries to keep them grounded as they make a quest to be a part of the championship history of Post 13.

"I tell the boys that they haven't won anything," he said. "Only three of them were on this team last year. Post 13 has won six straight state championships so it's up to those guys to carry it on."

Athletes who returned from a title-winning team

Zinser and Steed are two players that returned from 2021's championship squad.

Playing at Post 13 gives the duo an delightful, but competitive environment during their offseason.

"It's a fun experience, and atmosphere," Zinser said. "We always come out here to win. It was fun last year and we have a great team this year, too. We're going to see if we can get another championship.

Steed echoed Zinser's pleasurable involvement and championship aspirations at Post 13.

"We're allowed to come out here, enjoy ourselves, and be a good team," Steed said. "It's a lot more fun out here instead of being too serious.

"We kind of dominated when it comes to the state of Florida, so we're just trying to make sure we can take as far as we can and win it all at nationals."

Zinser is fresh off a district player of the year award and credits his teammates for his productive season.

"I had a great season a great team," he said. "They really pushed me to do a lot better and play ball."

Steed is coming out of his freshman year at Jackson State as his team appeared in the 2022 SWAC Tournament.

"Being at Jackson State, I got to experience what it's like to face good competition every day," he said. "I learned a lot about myself and became a way better baseball player because of it."

Rayborn, a newcomer is chasing his first trophy with Post 13. Rayborn recently graduated from Leon and will play on Eagle Field for TCC next season.

"Post 13 paved the way for me," he said. "I know the role that I need to play on the team. I'm liking it so far.

"They're going on seven year in a row now. As soon as I heard that, I knew the team was going to be good when I came out here. These are all my friends and getting the chance to play with them on the field is great. The team chemistry is going really good.

Rayborn looks forward to playing with his hometown school in TCC come spring 2023.

"I've had a chance to come out here a lot for some of the games," he said. "There's been high energy in every game. I'm looking forward to being a part of that. Playing for the home crowd, my family, and friends will be awesome. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity I got."

What's Next

Post 13 went 2-1 in its first 2022 tournament, defeating Pensacola and Port St. Lucie and dropping to Winter Haven.

Singletary was impressed by the camaraderie of his team and knows that as long as team chemistry constantly builds, Post 13 will feel the same glory that they've experience the last six years.

"Collectively, they were helping each other and I like seeing that come out the dugout," he said. "I feel like we got a chance this year. Hopefully this year we can go further.

"Our problem has been that the southeastern region in North Carolina is so late that we end up there shorthanded with kids going off to college, playing football, or because the next schoolyear has started. If we can win the state again, we'll go to Asheboro. If you win that then you go to the world series in Shelby, North Carolina."

The Post 13 roster is nearly finalized. With the final open spots, they will look to fill the gaps of team needs and build the trust throughout the entire ball club.

"We've got some guys that want to play," Singletary said. "Our guys got to step up and pitch better if we want to get to the world series."

Stepping away, Singletary handed over the shot calling keys to the 17U coaches Brian Caldwell and Greg Boutwell who won a championship on that level.

But after a year, Singletary returned to coaching duties and is looking for his team consign the coaching staff's philosophy.

"They don't want baseball to end and want to make it to Shelby. If they can get to where they trust me, Treadway, and Noah, we're going to be successful. If I had come out of retirement for this, we got to hurt some feelings. We're here to win ball games."

Gerald Thomas III covers FAMU athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@gannett.com or on Twitter @3peatgee.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Post 13 Baseball: Team attempt to secure their seventh title in 2022