Freedom will need to grow quickly this season following the loss of eight starters from last year's playoff team.

Nick D'Amico enters his seventh year at the helm and knows that replacing nearly a full lineup is quite the task.

Following a 13-9 campaign from a year ago, the Pates find themselves looking up to the likes of city rival, Liberty, who is the favorite to win the Lehigh Valley Conference East Division.

But D'Amico isn't willing to call this season a rebuilding project just yet.

"We lost eight starters from last year's team and we lack experience," D'Amico said. "Being able to gel as a team and limit mistakes will be big for us early on."

D'Amico intends to lean on seniors Jarrett Clymer (CF), Edgar Garcia (OF) and Nick Mazzella (P/1B) to help keep the Pates on track this year.

Mazzella, along with junior pitcher Zak Gagnon, are the 1-2 punch that D'Amico hopes to have on the mound this year.

After a 2-1 start to the season already, the Pates at least have a leg up on the division, beating Easton 7-3 last week on the arm of Mazzella.

The Pates have a busy week with three games on the slate as they take on Whitehall today, followed by Friday's contest with Central Catholic and Saturday's tilt with Stroudsburg.

Freedom wants to get off to a fast start this season, just like they did last year, but D'Amico hopes that it can be a prolonged and consistent run.

"We start out playing great baseball and fizzle at the end of the season," he said. "We need to play with more consistency throughout the entire season. We want to qualify for districts and win our division. I just want them to play with confidence and limit the mental mistakes."