The Carpet Land Post 500 baseball team is American Legion World Series champion for the first time in program history, putting Nebraska baseball back on the map in 2026.
The Lincoln East-based baseball team was one of eight teams competing in the youth baseball tournament, which aims to bring baseball players from across the country together for six days of competition. The teams face off in bracket play, which consists of two brackets with four teams on each side. The winners of each side play one another for the title.
The Rugs swept their way through the bracket, defeating Portland (Ore.) Post 158 9-6 in Shelby, N.C. Tuesday night. This marks Nebraska’s first championship since 1939.
“For little Lincoln to be able to match up and go toe to toe not only with Omaha, but with teams across the country, it’s a pretty cool thing,” head coach Mychal Lanik told Hurrdat Sports Live. “It’s something that I think our kids take a lot of pride in for sure.”
The Rugs have made it to the American Legion World Series in three of the last four years and fell in the championship in 2023. This year, Carpet Land broke through and took home the title. Lanik said he relied on other coaches for support, while continuing to grow and learn from the team’s previous experiences.
“One of the things my wife and I talked about was how out of gas our kids were at the end of a couple of these runs,” Lanik said. “So if we’re going to do it right this year, we’re going to play a little bit more evenly early, we’re going to spread out playing time, we’re going to slow our pitchers down a little bit just in case we’re there at the end, then we have a little bit left in the tank. I think it worked out pretty well this year.”
One reason for that may have been the coaching staff’s decision to play a variety of different players. Lanik said they let the younger players play more at the beginning of the season, giving the older guys time to rest and make a run at the end of the year.
“Through that we really found some really high-quality players that could contribute and kind of help the team perform at its best,” Lanik said. “It was a really good mix this summer of some old guys going out that wanted to keep playing together and wanted to do this thing and finish it the right way, and then a bunch of hungry younger guys that wanted to take the next step, and a lot of them did.”
Lanik has also helped other programs take that next step. He helped guide Lincoln East to two Class A baseball state titles in the last four years. However, he’s always giving his former and current players credit for what the Spartans have built.
“The AJ Evascos and the Jeter Worthleys and the Cooper Eriksons and the Troy Peltzes and the Joey Senstocks, all of these kids, they’re just wired to win and they’re wired to be good teammates,” Lanik said. “Then when the Kalai Larsens and the Brodie McIntires and the Dele Odulates and Santino Arranagas see the Jeters who never miss a lift, and the AJ Evascos who are 15 minutes early for everything, and the Troy Peltzs who have a 4.0 and they’re treating everybody the right way in the hallways, it’s like that’s just kind of the foundation of our program.”
McIntire, a St. Thomas commit who graduated from Lincoln East in the spring, earned American Legion Baseball Player of the Year for his performance during Carpet Land’s run.
That culture and standard have been built in both programs, and Lanik has hopes of watching that continue no matter the weather, level of play or time of year.
“We’re going to compete at whatever we do,” Lanik said. “I think our kids buy into that, and I think our kids take a lot of ownership in that.”
For now, the 2026 American Legion World Series trophy will reside in Lincoln.
“It’s really cool to be recognized,” Lanik said. “Our kids work really hard at it, so for them to be rewarded is pretty damn cool.”
