The turnover at a military school is challenging for coaches.

Missouri Military Academy baseball head coach Thomas Roberts encounters an almost entirely different roster this season after losing eight starters and six pitchers from last season’s 9-9 squad that finished with the program’s most wins since 1969.

The Colonels will have some returning from last year, including shortstop Luke Wolf and outfielder Avin Hernandez, but almost everybody else is either new to the team or baseball or both. The reasons include graduation and other explanations, but Roberts said this year’s group is trying to learn.

“We’re just going to be a process of trying to construct something,” Roberts said. “It’s going to be tough to scratch out any wins, but it’s good if they learn something and enjoy playing the game, and as a team, keep each other accountable.”

The area where it hurts the most to build from the ground up, Roberts said, is the pitching staff as he had several kids that could pitch last year. None of them returned so he is trying several new arms this season to see if they can stick to the mound.

MMA was able to play in a preseason jamboree at Community R-6 in Laddonia and tried out Sam Stevens, who has displayed good control early but obviously needs more work, and Hernandez is anticipated to take the mound for the Colonels this year but was out sick during the jamboree.

“The biggest problem is pitching,” Roberts said. “Last year, I was blessed with six pitchers and two left-handers. We’re trying to mesh nine guys together to make a pitcher.”

Roberts said high school teams that do well typically have five kids who can pitch so he is hopeful MMA can eventually reach that number again. It’s just going to take time.

It will take time for the lineup to become deeper as well as Roberts said MMA is about four guys deep. After the four guys of Stevens, catcher Zachary Tillock, Wolf and Hernandez, the Colonels need some more bats to develop before they could possibly reach the 6.2 runs per game average from a season ago. Roberts said seeing 60-70 miles per hour can be a wake-up call for the uninitiated.

“Once we get past that point (in the lineup), we’re hurting,” Roberts said. “They need to get a little experience in the batter’s box. Hopefully they get a couple of high and tight ones and figure it out.”

Roberts said Stevens and Tillock have shown promise at shortstop and catcher as well. Still, he said he has plenty of kids playing out of position or out of their comfort zone to fill the various holes around the diamond. This led to some errors during that jamboree, but experience will cure those ills as is the case with the other areas of the team.

The learning period doesn’t apply to players, though, as Roberts said it applies to him as a coach. Every kid needs a different coaching approach. Even with the lofty challenge ahead, he said he is still excited to see where these kids can go.

“We’re playing with a lot of errors as well so we’re just going to have to go through struggles,” Roberts said. “As a coach, you just can’t give up and you just keep working at it. Keep them engaged so they’re not disheartened after taking loss after loss.”