Pirates manager Clint Hurdle hits a ball during the pre-game work-out Thursday July 5, 2012 at PNC Park. Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review
By George Guido
Published: Wednesday, July 18, 2012, 11:16?p.m.
Updated 11 hours ago
Throughout the first 17 years of the Freeport International Baseball Invitational, much of the chatter in the dugouts and in the bleacher areas has centered on who might make the Steelers? roster and how good the local high school?s football team might be in the fall.
Now, there?s an entirely different buzz with the Pirates finally looking like playoff contenders after years of futility.
There?s finally baseball talk at the baseball event.
Consider this: almost none of the players in this year?s Freeport Invitational has experienced a winning season by the Pirates in their lifetimes.
Interest outside the Alle-Kiski Valley is even on the rise, particularly in Erie, where the town?s allegiance is split between the Pirates and the Indians, currently just three games out of first place in the American League Central.
Corner infielder Kenny Fugagli of the Erie Physicians Network team is in the Pirates camp.
?I?d say I?m following the team pretty hard right now,? said Fugagli, 17.
Some of his classmates at Mercyhurst Prep could only imagine what a Pirates-Indians World Series would be like.
?It would be a little tense, just like the Browns-Steelers rivalry,? said Fugagli, who follows the team on Root Sports.
Mitch Upperman, 17, another EPN team member, pulls for the Tribe.
?I?ve always followed the Indians as much as I could,? Upperman said.
One of Upperman?s biggest baseball thrills was attending Game 3 of the 2007 American League Championship Series at Progressive Field.
With so many 90-loss seasons strung together, it can be hard for a youngster to get interested in the Pirates.
?I moved here eight years ago from New York, and the Pirates were so bad, I never paid attention to them,? said Tyler Garbe, 15, a rising sophomore from Quaker Valley.
?I started following them last year when they got in first place and started doing well,? said Garbe, a member of the SportsZone team.
Garbe?s teammate, Grant Smith, 16, of Ambridge, is having a problem Pirates fans are unaccustomed to:
?When I want to go to PNC Park, I can?t get any tickets. They?re all sold out,? Smith said.
Even the young ladies are getting Bucco fever.
Trista Fink, 15, of the Springdale Colts follows the team extensively.
?They?ve improved a lot,? Fink said. ?I stayed up (Tuesday) night and watched them on TV till midnight.?
Pirates fans can even be found in Reds country.
?I?ve always liked the Pirates,? said Austin Faris, 13, of the Bourbon County, Ky., Colt team.
Added Faris: ?They have a great history with someone like Roberto Clemente, and I?m also aware of the present, as well.?
Faris said he watches the Pirates on Root via his family?s satellite dish.
Players at this year?s Freeport baseball event follow different teams for different reasons.
Emmit Lehman, 17, of Mercyhurst Prep follows the Detroit Tigers, who have a Double-A farm team in Erie, the SeaWolves.
?I?ve always followed Curtis Granderson, who used to play with the Tigers before going to the Yankees. ?I got to play catch with him once at Jerry Uht Park and he?s been an idol ever since.?
Justin Hutchens, 16, of Freeport Invitational mainstay Bourbon County follows Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers.
?He used to be with the Reds, and I like his story,? Hutchens said, referring to Hamilton?s past battles with substance abuse.
?When we?re out playing, I follow him later in the evening on ESPN ?Sports Center? highlights,? Hitchens said.
George Guido is a freelance writer.
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