With long-time Gaithersburg Post 295 American Legion manager Rick Price moving to the Rockville Express of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League and Steve Cononie taking his place last month, an opening for manager of the Gaithersburg Post 295 Junior Legion team came open last month and it was recently filled by Seneca Valley High School graduate Chris Crosby.

Crosby, a two-sport star at Seneca Valley, was among five candidates for the job. The other four were from the Germantown, Darnestown and Poolesville areas, said Cononie, who chose Crosby along with Price and Post 295 assistant coach Paul Mattes.

“We felt he would be a good fit for the position,” Cononie said. “He has coached at the high school level before and relates to this age group very well.

I think Chris is a great guy with lots of potential. He is bringing a strong field of coaches with him and we are hoping for some nice things out of him and his staff. He has a very good knowledge of the game and what it takes to win both on and off the field.”

Crosby played both baseball and football at Seneca Valley; he was inducted into the Seneca Valley High football Hall of Fame in 2001. Crosby spent two years as an assistant coach at Seneca Valley in 2008 and '09. The Screaming Eagles reached the state semifinals for the first time in 2008.

Crosby and long-time friend and Northwest graduate Mike Landis founded and operate Advanced Baseball Concepts, a baseball training organization designed to help prepare baseball players for the next level.

“The program has been successful for years so once the job opened up, it was a no-brainer for me,” Crosby said. “I can't wait. I know that there are a lot of good kids coming back. I've talked with Steve and I'll meet with him a couple of more times and basically get the ball rolling. It's a 12-month-a-year job. I've already started going to high school fall baseball games. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm excited.”

Crosby takes over a junior legion program that came within a victory of playing in the Tennessee-based National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series championship game this past summer. Post 295 finishing with a 4-2 record at the tournament and compiled a 26-11 record overall.

The junior legion team qualified for the NABF World Series the past two years, finishing in the top two in the Potomac Junior League East Division standings. Post 295 has reached postseason play in three of its four years of existence as a junior legion program.

“At this point, I want to keep it status quo,” Crosby said. “What I bring to the position is a youthful, enthusiastic coach. Obviously, Steve has done wonderful things with the junior legion team. We want to keep that a going. The ultimate goal is to win the nationals and prepare them for the next level; whatever baseball they will play at the next level.”

jpeters@gazette.net