Sports
B1
Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
PHOTOS BY DANIELLE PETERSON/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Colton Meyer pitches for the Canyon Crushers during a game against the Withnell Dodgers on June 29, at Regis High School in Stayton.
CRUSHERS ADD STARS
Legion ballclub features Silverton High players
MATT RAWLINGS
SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
Channon MacBean, Colton Meyer and
Tristan Lanier were all vital pieces to the
Silverton High baseball program in 2016.
With their quality play at the high
school level, all three have been selected
to play for the Canyon Crushers, which
are a Triple-A American Legion ballclub.
The Crushers, also known as Post 58,
is a 19-and-under team that features
players largely from McNary and Mc-
Kay high school, but they also feature
players from Regis, Scio, Stayton, and
Silverton.
“Even though we are a team filled
with high schoolers, the level of talent is
much higher at the legion level because
you are essentially dealing with all-star
teams,” Crushers coach Drew Heard
said.
“Every legion team has an entire ros-
ter of kids that were all-stars on their
high school teams, so the talent level we
“People don’t mess around here. You are expected to do your
job and get things done.”
TRISTAN LANIER
ON JOINING THE CANYON CRUSHERS
have here is pretty high.”
This is MacBean’s second year play-
ing for the Crushers. After a stellar sen-
ior season, MacBean is planning to play
his college ball at Northwest Nazarene
University.
“The speed of the game is much faster
at the Legion level and you have to lock in
and be focused a little more when you are
playing a nine-inning game,” MacBean
said. “I think playing at this level has
really helped me develop as a player and
helped me reach the college level.”
This is the first year of playing Legion
ball for Meyer and Lanier, and both of
them are splitting time between playing
for the Crushers and playing for Silver-
ton’s summer ball team.
“Kids are older and more mature
baseball players at this level, so there is a
sense that you have bigger shoes to fill,”
Lanier said. “People don’t mess around
here. You are expected to do your job and
get things done.”
Meyer also added: “You have to be a
versatile and ready to bust your butt all
the time.”
The Crushers have several returners
on this team and MacBean emerged as
one of the leaders of the club.
“Channon has great ability as a base-
ball player, but he has really stepped up
to be one of the key leaders on this team.
Even when he has a bad game, his leader-
Channon McBean and the Canyon Crushers take on the Withnell Dodgers on June 29, at Regis High School in Stayton.
REACH US: Cliff Kirkpatrick, ckirkpatr@Salem.gannett.com
ship and intensity never waver,” Heard
said.
Even though Meyer and Lanier split
time with between the Crushers and high
school summer ball, they have still been
able to leave an impact early on into the
season.
“Based on what we have seen so far,
they both have a lot of potential for this
club and I believe that each of their indi-
vidual ceilings is very high,” Heard said.
Even though all three of these guys
are established high school baseball
players, their main goal is to improve for
the next venture in their baseball lives.
“Everyone out here is here to get bet-
ter. For myself, and most of the other
guys I see this as a way to improve my
game so I can help my high school team,
Meyer said. “But my end goal is to be
able to play at the college level.”
Lanier added: “I’m looking to get to
the next level and I feel that playing for
this team is a huge stepping stone to al-
low me to reach that goal.”