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By ED GOTWALS
Sports editor
When Merle Guyer played on the 1999 PIAA state championship baseball team -- the Chambersburg Trojans -- he knew his role.
Guyer was a part-time player for the Trojans, but he was a full-time cheerleader for the team from the dugout.
"I was always the team motivator," Guyer said.
And he was popular.
Teammate Matt Fosnot said then of the fan favorite: "It doesn't make any sense. He's just Merle."
It's now 10 years later and once again, Guyer has discovered his role. He's still motivating players on a baseball field, but now he's doing it as a coach.
In his first season of calling the shots, Guyer directed a Newville team, the Braves, to an 11-4 regular-season record to tie for first place in a Senior (15-16) Little League. Then he took over the Newville all-star team and guided it all the way to a third-place finish in the state tournament.
"I think I've found my calling," Guyer said. "It's what I'm supposed to be in the game to do. It had been getting a little boring, but now my passion for baseball is back."
In the years since he played for the Trojans, Guyer had tried college at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, had worked for his father, Dave, as a dental tech, and had played seven years for adult baseball teams -- four years with the Fayetteville AA's and three with the Newville Cardinals.
"About three years ago, I got saved by the Lord, and now I have a different direction in my life," Guyer said.
And that direction includes coaching.
Guyer, a Walnut Bottom resident, said, "I had no vested interested; I just wanted an opportunity to help kids and I wanted to see what I could do."
While playing for the Cardinals, Guyer met Denise Miller, who was Newville's Little League president. He told her if she had an opening for coaching one of the older teams, he'd be interested.
Miller said, "I had asked some other guys first, but they turned it down. Merle was excited about it. He went to a practice to help and really hit it off.
"He is a passionate person, has a strong personality and a lot of knowledge. I was excited about how everything turned out. It was a good time in his life to do this."
When Guyer got the chance, he made the most of it.
After the Braves tied for first with another Newville team in the regular season, Guyer was asked to coach the all-star tournament team.
"Nobody else wanted it, so I figured I'd give it a try," Guyer said.
Newville ripped through the district tournament, beating Greencastle 15-0 and Pen Mar 13-3 and 11-1. In the Section 7 tournament, Newville won 18-0 over Manheim, then beat West Chester Westside 8-2 and 12-2 to reach states for the first time since 2002.
"In the first two rounds, we scored 75 runs in 26 1/2 innings and only gave up six," Guyer said. "We had a good-hitting team and our pitching did well."
At the state tournament, the eight teams were put into two pools. Newville opened with a 4-1 loss to Bridgeport, then beat Northwest Bethlehem 5-4 and Weston Park 2-1. That gave them second place in their pool. In a semifinal game, Newville fell 12-9 to eventual champion St. Marys.
Guyer said, "It was a different level of ball at states. But we had a great group of kids. It was a talented bunch that just needed an extra push. It was great to see the smiles on their faces."
Guyer couldn't help but smile, too, from some of the compliments he received.
"The St. Marys coach told me, 'Whatever you're doing, it's working, because those kids are playing hard for you.' And the tournament director and a couple of umpires said that for a first-year coach, I had a team that never gave up and kept fighting."
Guyer believes his team did well because of two changes he made -- he challenged them to be better and he changed the practice routines.
He said, "These kids seemed to have no drive, so I stayed on them. And they seemed to feed off my energy. The coaches I had in Chambersburg (Bob Thomas and Bob Snowberger) would never let you quit.
"And the way I run practices is the way we did them in high school. I couldn't have asked for better coaches."
Miller said, "He had the athletes believing in themselves. He gave the kids a sense of enthusiasm and accomplishment."
Since then, Guyer has taken a team, Bases Loaded, to a tournament in Delaware, he has signed on to help with Newville's fall ball program, and may help with the Big Spring high school team next spring.
"I've just enjoyed this so much," he said, "I'm handing in my (player's) jersey to coach."
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Ed Gotwals may be reached at 262-4755 and egotwals@publicopinionnews.com.
Coaching debut
Merle Guyer, who played on the 1999 state championship baseball team for Chambersburg, had a successful first year as a coach for Newville in the Senior (15-16) Little League division:
n The Braves went 11-4 and tied for first place in the regular season
n The Newville all-stars went 3-0 in the District 14 tournament
n The all-stars were 3-0 in the Section 7 event
n Newville went 2-2 and tied for third place in the state tournament
