For years now, the Parkland baseball team has just rolled out one pitcher after another and never had questions about who was going to be in their starting rotation. The Trojans would combine those quality arms with an emphasis on defense and would easily cover any deficiencies they may have had offensively.

For the first time since Kurt Weber took over as the head coach in 2016, the pitching machine has had a hiccup. Parkland returns just one pitcher starter from last year’s team and has a help wanted sign out to fill out the rotation.

“Generally, we’ve known year-to-year who the top two or three pitchers were going to be,” said Weber. “This year we have an open competition and it’s kind of refreshing to have that competition, but at the same time, it’s nerve-wracking for us until we see who is going to step up.”

Defense is going to be the calling card for the Trojans this season. Their strength will especially be up the middle where they return both middle infielders and their center fielder, needing only to replace catcher Austin Mueller.

As usual, offense is the last thing that comes together for Parkland, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t have enough bats in the lineup to produce some runs.

“It’s pretty much the same cast of characters that we’ve had,” said Weber. “We’ll rely on Cullan Wadsworth. He’s the main guy in the order and Adam Mellinger, Dylan Miller and Christian Kinsley will be the main guys. We have a couple young guys, but they’ll be role players and not be a huge part of the lineup.

“We’re never known as the greatest offensive team and our strength is always pitching and defense, but with this particular group of guys we’re hoping that maybe we can be more aggressive than we’ve been in the past and maybe do a little bit more on the bases and try to play with an opportunistic type offense.”

Parkland finished 18-9 overall last season with a 12-4 mark in the EPC. The Trojans beat Liberty to win the conference championship, but the Hurricanes got revenge when they beat Parkland 2-1 in extra innings to win the District 11 title. Both teams were hit pretty hard by graduation, but if things pan out right, the same two teams have a shot at going deep into the playoffs this season.

The question for Parkland is the pitching, while Liberty has to rely on a strong crop of young players moving up from their strong JV team. The EPC should show some parity this season and the Skyline Division again figures to be the most challenging of the three divisions.

“Emmaus, with the pitching that they return, is going to be tough and I think our whole division up and down is going to be tough,” said Weber. “Northampton was really good and they return a majority of their team. Liberty lost a bunch of guys, but everybody talks about how great their JV team was last year, so they’ll be good. It’s going to be a really interesting season. There won’t be any easy games.”

Every team in the Lehigh Valley has been hampered by Mother Nature and forced inside for much of their preseason. The Trojans do have an advantage in that their indoor facilities are better than most, but Weber still believes that his team needs a stretch of good weather and work on an actual baseball field to answer some final questions about his team.

“Nothing beats playing baseball outside,” said Weber. “There are certain things that you do in a gym, but when you get outside there are things that become really obvious that you didn’t see when you were inside. Unfortunately, it’s northeast baseball and you get used to working out in the gym. We’re happy with the way that they’re working. The kids are working hard. They want to get outside. We definitely need to get on the field and play some baseball.”

Parkland was scheduled to host Bethlehem Catholic Wednesday before a week off over Easter. The Trojans get back in action when they host Stroudsburg on April 4 at 4:45 p.m.