With the crack of a bat, the season began. Winter has faded away just in time for baseball players to run back onto the field.

This season, over 30 kids tried out for varsity, but only 20 ended up on the team. With all of the cuts firmly locked into place, the remaining players closely resemble last year’s group.

“There aren’t many new faces this year,” junior Ronald Pinto. “We have an experienced staff that wants to win.”

Last year, the team went 10-24-1, however the positive takeaway from that record is the youth that is returning and the added experience could pay dividends. The Chieftains look to bounce back this year in a big way with those young players having matured both mentally and physically.

“I think our team is prepared and able to win games,” junior Mario Sarti said. “It’s on us to execute.”

They look to make a statement early this season with their aggressive pitching.

“The pitching is good, we have Pinto back which is a great thing that makes us excited he is a big part of the staff,” head coach Mark Moehlig said. “So far though, he has been dealing with a little bit of shoulder tendinitis but his body has been responding very well to the rest his first game is going to be against New Haven.”

Pinto, the ace of the team, had an individual record of 4-3, era of 3.57, 31 strikeouts thrown, and a batting average of .203 last season. Pinto is confident he can top each and every one of those numbers this time around.

“The work I put in this off season is what’s going to make me better this time around,” Pinto said. “Sure last year was good but there is a lot of room to get better and grow as a player.”

Caden Ebeling, a starting pitcher, missed the first half of last season because of an elbow surgery. When he came back last year, Ebeling had an individual record of 3-0 and an ERA of 2.03; the best on the team.

“We did a lot of offseason training,” Moehlig said, “and gained velocity on our pitches.”

The team also has high hopes for improvements on offense, especially at the top of the batting order. Setting the tone for the offense at the top of the order is Pinto leading off, followed by senior Nick Martin, senior Chris Kaschalk, and senior Will Young bats clean up.

The top three batters in the line up all had above 15 hits during the course of the season, however Young was forced to miss the whole season due to a torn achilles suffered during the basketball season.

“He would have been a great help last season,” Kaschalk said, “but he’s healthy now and it will be a huge impact on the team.”

The team already has a few games under their belt and the experience is there, but the little things seem to haunt the team towards the end of their games.

“As a team we’re looking good, the players are all more experienced,” Martin said. “Our main problem is small mistakes, the details got away from us. We have to focus more on now instead of the past, the pitch that is being thrown is more important than the pitch that has already been thrown.”

The team is looking to be more competitive than their 10-24-1 record indicates, with a rare combination of youth and experience on their side the best thing for the team to focus on is now.