The Community R-6 boys hope to bring much stability to its team this year with its group of workhorses.

The Trojans return four seniors and seven juniors to this season’s roster, including much of their innings.

Senior Gavin Allen and junior Mason Carroll were both named all-Central Activities Conference and all-district after combining for 133 strikeouts and 29 walks in 71 innings during a 7-6 spring. In the team’s 3-3 season, the duo combined for 84 strikeouts and 13 walks in 44 innings.

“The areas where we will be the strongest will be on the bump,” head coach Joel Krato said. “Not only do Gavin and Mason do a superb job on the mound, we have some other kids who are ready to have some success on the mound.”

Senior Tucker Cox has been throwing in the summer so he looks to be a bigger part of the team this season, Krato said, and sophomore Drake Welch has added velocity to his fastball and figures to be a weapon in the future, if not this year. Junior Mason Rohan struck out 30 batters in 21 innings during his freshman season.

Krato said Community will need to be better offensively if they want to improve this season. Last year, the Trojans averaged 4.3 runs per game – a three-season low – and averaged 3.7 runs during their fall season.

There were a few bats in the fall season that signaled encouraging results, however, as Krato mentioned junior Eli Johnson and senior transfer Ayden Meranda. Krato said he expects Johnson to be “one of the best defensive catchers we will see this year” after a year and a half behind the plate but also thinks the bat will come around after hitting .333 with a handful of doubles in the fall. After Meranda became eligible, he finished the fall with a .375 averaged and a home run and will be out in centerfield in the spring.

“We do a good job of getting bunts down and playing small ball to manufacture some runs, but we need to get some extra base hits and start driving in runs when they are players are in scoring position,” Krato said. “We’ve been working on it all fall and spring so far and the boys have been swinging it well.”

While not every little thing has been sorted out, Krato said this season, like every other in the past, will serve the purpose of preparing for districts and to win a title. “We Play for May” has much meaning to the Trojans as Community hopes to be playing baseball for much longer this year.

“Record-wise is irrelevant to us,” Krato said. “The only thing we are focused on is what do we need to do to get ready for when playoff baseball comes around, and are we ready and prepared to win a district title when the time comes?”

Community R-6 starts the season at 5 p.m. Monday at Wellsville-Middletown before playing its home opener at 5 p.m. Tuesday against Clopton.