Batter up.

Spring is among us, and that means the baseball team is back to work. The WS baseball team is back and looking to make another run at the state title. The defending Northern Region champions are back with an infusion of youth, talent, and senior leadership.

“We have a lot of young talent this year and we feel they can help contribute,” said senior Taylor Boyd.

With young talent on the team, it not only sets up the team for winning now, but for many seasons ahead. This is how the WS team has consistently been successful even through coaching changes, they keep developing their young players into meaningful contributors in the playoffs.

“Going through the coaching change was tough but he came in with an idea and its worked well for us,” said Boyd.

Winning the region and moving onto states again will be no easy task, however. The Patriot District has other state powerhouse teams such as Lake Braddock and South County. With both consistently ranked in the top ten. With a difficult schedule ahead, the Spartans will have to play their best ball for them to achieve their goal.

“The ultimate goal is states and we have the coaching and players to be able to do it,” said junior Blake Bird.

With enough hard work and effort these men believe that they can win the state championship. The team has been practicing after school every day in order to improve their skills. Considering the other cupcake teams in the district the team should have no problem until their matchups with South County and Lake Braddock, which should interest many fans to come watch the heated rivals go against each other.

“We really want to sweep SoCo and Braddock this year,” said Bird.

The season is looking up for the team and they look to improve on their 2012 success. This year they hope to win the state title for the second time in four years, and with their youth and talent, its completely doable.

“I have a good feeling about this year, and its up to us to see how it plays out,” said senior Jake Howard.