Over the past two seasons, Van-Far had a formidable offense.

The Indians won a district championship two years ago and set a program wins record last year with 12 victories with a good lineup. This year, Van-Far has a roster it believes can shine on defense.

Head coach Cameron Huff said there will be four seniors and five juniors with prior varsity experience, but it had a load of varsity experience graduate. They were primarily their best bats so Huff wants to see Van-Far be better defensively.

“When you lose four seniors who were all significant hitters, it’s hard to replace those guys,” Huff said. “I don’t think we’re going to put up the numbers or have the guys on base like we did last year. We’re definitely going to pride ourselves in defense and pitching, and we’re going to small ball.”

Dylan Huber joins the Van-Far coaching staff after coaching American Legion for four years. Huff said he will help practice defense.

“He has taken over the infield aspect of trying to teach them how to field properly to take their game to the next level,” Huff said. “That will be a nice addition for us to have.”

Huff said the Indians will be quick and will try to use slashing and bunting to put runs on the scoreboard to support the pitching staff. Gibson Condie is a senior infielder and a returning starting pitcher, and Landon Flowers and Gaven Gatson are also seniors who will be in the rotation and also be key everyday parts of the lineup as outfielders.

Tyson Sewell is a freshman who can be a starting pitcher, according to Huff, and will have a starting spot in the lineup along with fellow freshman Cooper Huff. Other than those four, Huff, Brady Puls, Slade Keller and Garrett Hopke can also cover innings.

“Quality innings is what we’re looking for out of those guys with the four starters leading the way,” Huff said.

Easton Sharp is a senior second baseman who will be counted on to lead, and junior middle infielder Ronnie Stanich has also played some varsity over the past couple years and will be a key contributor. Huff said he will be counting those kids to lead a more inexperienced roster than past seasons.

Huff said this year’s Indians will be looking to make as deep of a postseason run as possible. That part hasn’t changed. What has changed is there are some younger kids who will need to develop this year if Van-Far wants to be covered in the future.

“We have four seniors, and they’re all key to our team,” Huff said. “We have a lot of younger guys, too, so there is getting them varsity innings and developing them over the course of the season. With some of the younger talent that we have moving in over the next few years, it’s important to develop the younger guys to be able to take that role in a few years. At the same time, it’s keeping that intensity up and making a push.”