By: Sean Moylan
Rich Scheid, the manager of the Hightstown Post 148 American Legion baseball team, drew players from several different high schools to put together his final roster for this season.
"I’m pretty excited about the season. I like the depth on our team and we have a core group of eight kids (Ethan Perro, Logan Gallagher, Chris Kubik, Kevin McCarey, Mike Kapuscienski, Marcus McCleod, Curtis Schickner and Michael Bertuccio) coming back that are a year older (and better)," noted Scheid.
Perro, Gallagher, Steve Loncosky, Kubik, Dan Westfall and Rob Guiliano all played for the best Allentown High varsity baseball team in over a decade this past season and made Hightstown’s roster. McCarey, who graduated from Allentown last spring and just completed his first year at Villanova, is also back with Post 148 as is Mike Bertuccio, a senior from Pennington Prep who lives in Allentown.
Perro is a tremendous junior right-handed pitcher who has turned himself into a pretty good hitter.
Gallagher was probably Post 148’s best all-around hitter last season, and the talented junior is back this season to play short and toss some innings in relief.
Kubik is a senior left-hander with nasty stuff who should help anchor Hightstown’s pitching staff. He’s also a pretty good outfielder.
Bertuccio will be used primarily as an outfielder and a designated hitter while McCarey will also see time in the outfield.
Guiliano and Westfall are both junior outfielders while Loncosky will be used as a utility player.
Post 148’s only player from Hightstown High is a good one, Marcus McCleod, a senior outfielder-pitcher.
From Peddie, Hightstown will feature Dave Reichmann, a junior middle infielder, and Brandon Yarusi, a sophomore utility player with a world of talent.
Kapuscienski (a junior second baseman-shortstop), Kyle Gornley (a junior center fielder) and Ryan Pierson (a junior right-handed pitcher) all attend Notre Dame but live locally.
Robbinsville’s Brian Greubel (a junior shortstop-pitcher) and Matt Hill (a junior first baseman) also made the Hightstown Legion team.
Lawrenceville Prep’s junior Curtis Schickner, who hails from East Windsor, is back and should see some action at first, third and as a pitcher this season. Sophomore Zack Katcher, Schickner’s teammate at Lawrenceville, is from Hightstown and will be one of Post 148’s catchers this season.
Doug Herron and Matt Zegari will assist Scheid this season.
Post 148 had an 11-11 record last season but did not make the playoffs. This year it will be even tougher to qualify for the playoffs because only two Mercer County American Legion squads will qualify for the post season. But with so many new players and such a young team, Scheid is not going to overly concern himself about making the playoffs just yet. He has to see what he has first.
"Our goal is to keep everyone healthy. Some of these new pitchers, we need to get them to contribute," said Scheid, who’d like to utilize his entire roster as much as possible this season. "I’m going to go out there and try to enjoy the summer."
Scheid would like for his players to do the same and play for the love of the game. This season, Hightstown players will have to fight for starting spots, but competition is always a good thing. Like last season, Hightstown has scheduled a lot of out-of-league games this year. And hopefully with the new additions, Hightstown will hit a little better as a team this season.

