By Rachel McNew and Julia Adams — The varsity baseball team has high hopes for success this season. Although they have many challenges and adversities to overcome, the team as a whole is ready to overcome anything stopping them. The team has something that many would say is a disadvantage, they are one of the youngest teams in the Federal League with six starting juniors, two starting seniors, and one starting sophomore.

“We may be a young team, but definitely have a lot to offer in this season,” junior Luke Habyan said.

The boys as a unit all had a positive vibe in which they never hesitated when they said age will not hurt them. They know if hard work is brought to the table, something great will come.

“We are young and have a long way to go but we can do very well if we work hard,” junior Evan Maley said.

The players even believe that this is more of an advantage for the seasons in the future. Having such a young team only enables the team to have more varsity experience for the years to come, so they can be stronger as a whole.

“This is an advantage for our team because most of us will have a full two years together on varsity and that will only make us stronger,” junior Spencer Zernechel said.

The boys know that odds are against them, but are ready for the challenge. They believe that team chemistry is key to their success and by working hard to prove everyone wrong, chemistry can be awarded.

The coaches have high hopes for this season as well and think that this season will be determined by the amount of hard work the team will put in.

“We have a lot of talent but we lack varsity game experience , which can lead to mental mistakes during games,which is what we saw during our first game, this will only get better with experience and practice,” assistant varsity coach Ryan Streb said. Streb has been coaching for the school for 10 years.

Sophomore Drake May plays second base for the varsity team and feels very fortunate to have this position and be able to play with his upper class men team mates. He wants to be able to play like an upperclassmen and set the bar as a leader for the program in the future.

“I am going to work hard to contribute as much as I can to my teammates, I will give them my all to ensure that I am bringing enough to the table for my team,” May said.

Senior and team captain Austin White plays a significant role on this team as a leader and an example for his younger teammates. As a senior he knows that the other teams may have more experience, but his team can over come any challenge thrown at them.

“We need to mature quick because we have little time to mature, but our whole entire team and I know exactly what we are capable of,” White said.

Sophomore Nick Pritt and junior Joey Adams both mentioned that the game of baseball is all mental and the entire team will need to focus on what needs to be accomplished.

“I will need to have mental toughness throughout the entire season, that is very important,” Adams said.

Adams is a pitcher for the Eagles and made it clear that it is essential that he keeps his mind in the game and not get too down on himself.

“I will focus my entire season on not making mental errors,” Pritt said.

Most members of this team have been playing together since early middle school years.

The boys know that this season will be a challenge for them, but each and every one of them have the tenacity to be great. They all have goals and plan to achieve them.

“Everyone is sleeping on us, it is just a matter of time until we take off,” sophomore Austin Wayt said.

[Updated Aug. 7, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]