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<p>During the long history of the Pennsylvania State Legion Baseball Tournament, there have been many very good teams from the Wyoming Valley to participate in the prestigious event and walk away empty-handed.</p><p>Greater Pittston from early this century put together a phenomenal run with a team loaded with Division I players to earn three straight trips to the state tourney.</p><p>There have been plenty of quality runs with dozens of great players by the Plains, Plymouth and Nanticoke teams, too. But all four of those franchises fell short of obtaining the ultimate goal of a state championship.</p><p>Over the previous five years, Swoyersville has managed to not only trump all those other teams but become a force in the state.</p><p>When the state tournament starts Saturday in DuBois and Swoyersville plays French Creek Valley at 1:10 p.m., it enters as a state power having won two state titles in the last five years and not finishing any lower than fourth in the state during that period.</p><p>Swoyersville&#8217;s state title in 2014 was just the second-ever for the Wyoming Valley and the first in nearly 80 years since Plains won in 1935. Just two years after claiming state supremacy, Swoyersville became the only team from the Valley to claim two state championships.</p><p>It&#8217;s a dynasty that was started by current manager Gary Gavrish and his son, and former manager Sean Toole, who stepped back this season due to a heavy workload.</p><p>&#8220;These kids, there&#8217;s so many of them that can&#8217;t wait for high school ball to end to begin this legion run,&#8221; Gavrish said. &#8220;And when we get down to states, we make it a really, really fun week down there together.&#8221;</p><p>In an era where Legion Baseball has suffered in participation due to travel ball, work commitments or other ongoings, Swoyersville has created a dynastic franchise that is the place to be in the summer with an unprecedented four straight Region 5 titles and five in the last six years.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like a family, it really is. We try to treat it that way,&#8221; Gavrish said. &#8220;We make it fun for them and play competitive baseball. That&#8217;s all you can ask.&#8221;</p><p>One of the players who has decided to join the team the last few years is pitcher Nate Baranski. Despite playing on a travel team in the summer and locking up a college commitment to pitch for Division II Bloomsburg, the recent Wyoming Valley West grad wouldn&#8217;t give up a chance to play for Swoyersville for anything.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great. We&#8217;re a dynasty,&#8221; Baranski said. &#8220;Playing travel is fun, but I&#8217;m playing with kids from other states. I grew up with all these kids. They&#8217;re my best friends. I just love playing baseball with them. And Gary Gavrish is probably the best head coach in the league. He just gets ya fired up all the time. It&#8217;s a hell of a time playing for him.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been the best time of my life. Especially going to states and getting to stay in that hotel for five days with your best friends. You get a game a night and get to play in front of hundreds of people. It&#8217;s gonna be fun.&#8221;</p><p>Baranski is one of five Swoyersville players who will be finishing up their final season of legion ball this postseason when it concludes either at the tournament that takes place in the next five days or at the Great Lakes Regional Tournament, or even further, perhaps even all the way to the American Legion Baseball World Series.</p><p>It likely means the end of an era for Swoyersville, as Gavrish said it&#8217;s likely his last hurrah with the franchise after spending nearly two decades in the dugout with Plymouth and then when it moved to Swoyersville earlier this decade.</p><p>Finishing up their playing careers are catcher Steve Banas, outfielder/pitcher Draig Ruff and Tyler O&#8217;Kane, and pitcher/infielder Pat Adamski. All of them didn&#8217;t have to come back this season but didn&#8217;t want to pass up another opportunity.</p><p>&#8220;I love this environment. I love playing for coach Gary. There&#8217;s a lot of good vibes here. I like the tempo here. We all get along very good,&#8221; said Adamski, who&#8217;s been with the program for four years and was part of the 2016 state championship squad. &#8220;I love going (to states). It&#8217;s always a great time. I love being here and I wouldn&#8217;t wanna be anywhere else.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Scouting the opposition</strong></p><p>In addition to French Creek Valley from Region 8 participating in the event, none of the three teams that finished higher than Swoyersville in last year&#8217;s tournament are back. Defending champion Spring City, runner-up Souderton and third-place finisher Ephrata all missed the tourney.</p><p>In fact, Hempfield East is the only other team besides Swoyersville returning from last year&#8217;s event. One of Swoyersville&#8217;s two wins last year was a shutout against Hempfield East.</p><p>Host DuBois is joined by regional champions South Parkland (Region 2), Bristol (Region 3), Paxton (Region 4), Hopewell (Region 6) and Hempfield East (Region 7) to round out the participants.</p><p>Swoyersville&#8217;s track record bests all of its opponents in recent history.</p><p>Bristol was crowned champion in 2011, but the other six participants have never won a state title.</p><p><strong>Up Next</strong></p><p>The state champion and runner-up both advance to the Great Lakes Regional Tournament Aug. 7-11 in Charleston, Ill.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Swoyersville Legion ready to take another shot at state tournament