The Parkland baseball team reached the league and district title games last season only to see Liberty, a team the Trojans beat in the regular season, walk away with both titles.

This year the Trojans are looking to get back to both championship games and bring home both trophies.

“Last year we took silver twice,” said senior tri-captain Andrew Klotz. “We don’t want that to happen again. We’re hunting for gold.”

“We want it super-badly,” said Dylan Fili, another senior captain. “That’s our main goal and I have a lot of confidence we can get it.”

Like nearly every season, the Trojans graduated some talented players, but also have a solid nucleus returning and some players ready to step into increased roles this season.

“We don’t have the option of rebuilding,” said head coach Kurt Weber. “We try to do our best to always have the next set of guys ready to go. Now it’s just a matter of how they handle the game situations.

“We feel good about who we have and our potential.”

Klotz, a three-year varsity player, returns in center field this season after batting .324 last year. Another team captain, Louis Inserra returns at third base after hitting .343 last season while knocking in 25 runs. Other returning players include senior Will Dobil (SS, .400 BA, 9 doubles, 5 triples), senior Nate Bartholomew (RHP, 4-1, 2.96 ERA), junior Steve Sepko (RHP, 4-0, 1.84 ERA), junior Brody Morabito (C, .333 BA), Fili (2B), senior Gavin Mohry (OF) and senior Chase Mengel (OF).

Some other players expected to make an impact on this year’s varsity team are junior Nate Unger (RHP, utility), sophomore Chase Brunner (RHP, 3B), senior Tyler McNicholas (1B), sophomore Landen Benner (OF), freshman Ben Weninger (1B, LHP) and Julian Santiago (RHP, OF).

Last season’s top two pitchers graduated in Owen DeLong (Eastern University) and Bo Barthol (Kutztown University), along with Dylan Duborg (PDG Academy). Those three accounted for more than three-quarters of the innings pitched last season.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who are ready to step up,” said Inserra. “And that’s not just juniors and seniors. I think we’re set. I think the biggest thing is throwing strikes and having our pitchers know we can take care of things in the field.”

The Trojans relied on consistent pitchers last year. This year’s staff could feature some harder-throwing arms.

Weber expects pitching and defense to be the team’s strength. The team’s seniors feel good about this year’s staff.

“I have a lot of confidence in our pitchers,” said Fili. “I think they’ll do well and fill those roles.”

Parkland opened the season this week. While the Trojans have their eyes on the prize of league and district titles that could come in May, Inserra is keeping his focus on helping the team get better each day.

“It’s more than ever,” he said of how badly he’d like to win a title this season. “At the same time it’s step by step. We can’t be thinking about the end goal. It’s got to be one game at a time, one practice at a time. That’s the biggest thing is taking it one step at a time and getting after it every day.”