Competition breeds success and that’s what longtime Bethlehem Catholic baseball coach Mike Grasso hopes can turn the Golden Hawks into a playoff contender this spring.

With a lack of experience throughout the lineup following last year’s 5-15 season, Grasso is looking for a bounce back campaign following two straight years of failing to see his team make the postseason.

With youth abound the Hawks lineup this season, the daily competition at practice has driven a healthy environment that Grasso knows will pay dividends down the road.

“There’s an excitement with these kids and you see it everyday as they compete,” said Grasso, who enters his 29th season as head coach of the program. “We’re an inexperienced group, but the goal is to get to the postseason and I think this group can because of the way they compete. I haven’t had a team compete like this in awhile and that will only make us better everyday.”

The top returners for the Hawks include Sr. P-IF Dave Angelucci; Sr. P-0F Mike Lancaster; Sr. DH-IF Tom Roginski; Sr. 1B Andrew Posh; Jr. OF Aiden Henninger; Jr. P-OF Matt Morrow; Jr. P-OF Nate Gehingher and Jr. P-IF-C Pat Mattes.

Angelucci and Lancaster are two of the senior arms on the team that Grasso is counting on, as Angelucci threw five innings in last week’s 6-2 victory over Pottsville in their season opener.

Newcomers include a talented bunch with Jr. C Donovan Stuard; Jr. OF A.J. Abate; Jr. IF Preston Stout; Jr. P-IF Alex Supper; So. OF Ethan Cantelmi; So. P-IF Grant Hershman; Fr. IF-P Nate Petke; Fr. IF-P-OF Anthony Indelicato and Fr. IF-OF-P Stephan Rollins.

“We only have four seniors and we only had two seniors start for us against Pottsville,” Grasso said. “We’re starting a freshman at shortstop, but this is one of the most talented freshman groups we’ve had in a long time.”

Grasso knows it’ll come down to pitching and defense for his group this year if they want to compete in a tough EPC Steel Division, but appears optimistic that this year’s group can turn the corner on their two year playoff drought.

“I’m confident in the defense we have,” he said. “We have a lot of speed and quickness this year. The big thing is that we had a full offseason to work with these guys and that should really help us.”

The Hawks will get tested right out of the gate with their league opener against Whitehall on Wednesday, followed by Friday’s contest at Emmaus.