North Callaway baseball wants more of the success it had from last season.

The Thunderbirds won their first district title since 1999 and advanced to the Class 3 state quarterfinals before losing to eventual state champion Duchesne. With most of last season’s roster back, North Callaway has high hopes for this season.

Head coach Kirt Kleindienst was the Eastern Missouri Conference coach of the year as North Callaway averaged a five-year high in runs scored and an 11-year low in runs allowed. Kleindienst said some statistics should change from last year if the Thunderbirds are to make a deeper run.

“On the offensive side, we want to cut our team strikeout total in half,” Kleindienst said. “That was our biggest ‘Achilles’ heel’ in our key losses. All of our close losses, we had double-digit strikeouts.”

Kleindienst said North Callaway can’t “watch the ball” go by like it did against Duchesne, and the ball can’t go by as much on the defensive side either.

“Defensively, we want to cut the errors in half because I am a defensive-minded coach,” Kleindienst said. “I expect better this year after having these guys for a year under my wing.”

Out of the 34 players total, Kleindienst said he plans to carry 15-16 and some of them will be his returning all-conference players Keaton Bell, Carter Moore, Tucker Sheets and Coltyn O’Neal. Bell and Moore will be seniors, providing North Callaway its main battery and two of its pitchers from a season ago. Sheets has grown an inch and a half and gained about 10 pounds after being the team’s RBI leader a year ago, and O’Neal led the team in batting average.

Kleindienst wants to see other seniors Caleb Sheets and Chance Green have their best seasons. Sheets is the returning center fielder who has been a good example and Green is the backup catcher who made the “most key play” of the season on a bunt play in the 2-1 district championship win over New Bloomfield. CJ Cunningham is another senior who is returning to the game and will be in the mix for first base and is a left-handed pitcher.

As far as pitching goes, Kleindienst is high on that aspect of the team after bringing back mostly everybody. He said North Callaway is six starters deep with Bell and Moore at the top, Tucker Sheets, Cunningham, Green and transfer Carson Bassett coming from Hickman in Columbia. Bassett could settle into the top of the rotation along with Bell and Moore.

“I’ve never seen a pitching staff like this at North Callaway with the potential,” Kleindienst said. “The potential is all there. If we hold it together on the bump while we’re in the heat of battle, that’s another test to be had down the road.”

There are even seven catchers in the program this year, which Kleindienst said will help the pitching staff.

“Having seven catchers allows me to run three bullpens,” Kleindienst said. “The last place you want to be short on a roster would be catching.”

Kleindienst said there is enthusiasm in the program this year partly because of last year’s success and thinks last year helped give him so many players valuable experience.

“The older guys are doing a great job at demonstrating how to be better at baseball for the younger guys,” Kleindienst said. “That was the point I brought up with my upperclassmen and returning starters before we ever started.”