Senior Cyrus Baird of Hermitage is one of many players called on to pitch for Glen Allen Post 244, which struggles to find enough pitchers to throw nine innings in as many as five games a week. Summer is associated with baseball, and for the area’s best high school players, it means American Legion baseball, a decades-old institution. But during the past few years, what has previously been the most competitive game in town has lost some of its edge.

Ronnie Shaban’s freshman season as a Virginia Tech baseball player was exactly one month old March 20 when he stepped to the plate against Georgia Tech pitcher Deck McGuire. Shaban, a Cosby High graduate, was familiar with McGuire, a sophomore who played at Deep Run and would end up becoming this season’s ACC pitcher of the year. Shaban arrived at Tech confident that he could play in the ACC, and he was proving himself during the season’s first month, when he hit .324. But he hadn’t felt comfortable at the plate lately. He had just five hits in his past 20 at-bats before this Friday game against the Yellow Jackets and their ace right-hander.