By Tom Haley
Staff Writer
MANCHESTER, Vt. — The Union Underground on Main Street in Manchester serves up Duck Rangoon, Eggplant Fries and Baseball.
Baseball? Yes and it might just be the dish of the summer in town.
The Union Underground, owned by Bill Drunsic and his son Steve, came forward in a big way when Manchester wanted to enter the American Legion baseball scene for the first time this season.
“They pitched it to see what interest there was,” coach Ed Lewicki Jr. said. “They went to the post first and they are assisting us.”
There were others who stepped in to offer whatever sponsorship they could provide.
“There was also a GoFundMe page that raised, I think, about $3,000,” Lewicki said.
“Union Underground took over as the lead sponsor.”
The team is off to a great start. Thursday night, Manchester Union Underground shut out Lakes Region 4-0 in a Southern Division game to improve its record to 3-1.
There was a sprinkling of fans in the bleachers for the game but it is mainly a lawn-chair crowd. Attendance has been healthy.
“The crowds have been very good. We had a lot of fans all up and down each side for the Bennington game,” Lewicki said. “It has been really great community support.”
Lewicki, a former pitcher at the NCAA Division I level for Siena College, pulls the strings in the dugout with Billy Brownlee tending to the administrative aspects of the program.
Thursday night, it was Brownlee’s son Max Brownlee who stole the show.
He went the distance to earn his four-hit shutout.
It is an extremely young team but Max does not believe the 3-1 start is an aberration.
“If we do what we are told and just keep playing baseball, I think we can keep it going,” Max said.
There will be bumps along the way with a team this young but Lewicki is excited for the future.
“We will be very good in the next couple of years with the kids getting better and stronger,” Lewicki said.
You are accustomed to seeing Burr and Burton Academy football coach Tom McCoy wearing the green and gold colors of the Manchester school or the blue and orange of Hobart where his sons Jay and Joe McCoy play college football.
Thursday, he was wearing a maroon Colgate University T-shirt, representing the school where he played defensive back.
He put on that shirt for the game because maroon, gold and white are the colors of Vermont’s newest Legion team, also the color scheme of Union Underground.
Tom watched Joe go 3-for-3 with a double that night.
The Manchester Union Underground team gives Dana L. Thompson Memorial Recreation Park yet another jewel.
The park has Applejack Stadium, as fine of a facility as you will find in these parts, boasting high level soccer this summer with both men’s and women’s teams stocked with college players.
A track is a new addition to the park that also includes walking trails, a swimming pool, skate park and numerous other fields.
It is the summertime place to be in Manchester and the new team adds another dimension.
It might be a reach to put the creation of a new American Legion baseball team on the baseball shelf with the 1914 Miracle Braves or the Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff, Bobby Thomson’s home run in 1951.
Yet, this could be viewed as the Manchester Miracle in an age of COVID recovery where established Legion teams like the OEC Kings and Addison County were unable to field teams this season due to either low funds or a low turnout of players.
It is only going to get better, Lewicki said.
He has a young developing team that figures to improve immensely in the coming years.
He also envisions players from a wider area will try out for the team as its reputation grows, possibly players from across the state line in Cambridge, New York.
The lawn-chair crowd is in for a treat.
tom.haley @rutlandherald.com
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