Salisbury baseball head coach Mike Pochron got his first look at his team in a competitive atmosphere last Friday when the Falcons scrimmaged Tamaqua. The end result wasn’t what Pochron had anticipated, and the Falcons struggled to produce at the plate.

But that scrimmage did shed some positive light for the Falcons, in particular rounding out their lineup as the spring season approaches in a matter of days. And if Salisbury wants to qualify for the postseason again after last year’s trips to the Colonial League and District 11 Class 2A semifinals, they Falcons need to replace five key seniors from 2015.

“We learned some of the things we have to work on,” Pochron said. “We really didn’t hit very well, but we learned some things about our team and where guys are going to play. In that point of view it was worthwhile.”

Evan Kulig, last year’s Colonial League MVP, leads that list of graduates. He was the Falcons’ top pitcher a year ago, going 5-2 on the mound with 56 strikeouts and a 1.59 ERA. He also batted a team-leading .392 with 23 runs scored and 17 RBIs.

Catcher Charley Rogers (.389, 21 runs and 10 RBIs) is no longer calling signals behind home plate, and Mike Palmer (.372, 17 RBIs and 10 runs) leaves a void in the Falcons’ outfield that needs to be addressed. Chris Bishop and Justin Besz have also graduated.

Replacing a team’s top pitcher and hitter from a season ago is no small task. That’s what Salisbury stares in the face with its season opener set for Monday against Dieruff. But there is experience returning in 2016, and it starts with senior pitcher/infielder Chad Cooperman.

“Cooperman is returning as our main pitcher,” Pochron said. “We’re going to rely on him to do a majority of the pitching. Then we’re going to be relying on a couple of sophomores to pick up the load and pick up the innings we’re losing by not having Evan [Kulig] there.”

Cooperman pitched 40.1 innings last year (behind only Kulig’s 53) and finished with a 2.26 ERA and 40 strikeouts. In the batter’s box he was right up there with Salisbury’s leaders, batting .364 (fourth on team) with 20 RBIs (second on team) and 10 runs.

But Cooperman is only one arm, and the Falcons are going to need a number of other underclassmen to step into key roles. Sophomores Andrew Sukanick, Cole Warmkessel and Taylor Linn are expected to be the main pieces in that rotation.

“We’re certainly hoping that experience helps out,” Pochron said of Sukanick, who finished third on the team with 22.1 innings pitched last year. “I’m sure it will. He’s already been there, so it has to give him a little bit of an edge.”

In the field, Pochron will rely on a number of seniors to lead the way for a relatively young Falcons squad. It won’t be out of the ordinary to see four or five sophomores starting this spring.

“We’ll count big on Nick Sikora, he’s our senior third baseman,” Pochron said. “We need a big year out of Eric Schware; he’s our senior first baseman. And Mike Schmidt, he’s our senior right fielder. We’re going to need big years out of those seniors.”

Sikora played in all 23 games last year, batting .264 with 15 RBIs and 12 runs. So did sophomore Joey Galantini, an outfielder that impressed many as a freshman with a .296 average and 13 runs scored. Galantini figures to move to the catcher position with Rogers graduating.

Last season ended with the Falcons falling in extra innings of both league and district semifinal games. After being that close to playing for a championship a year ago, however, there isn’t any looking forward to that point just yet. It’s a game-by-game approach with this group and qualifying for districts is the main priority.

“We really won’t talk about that much,” Pochron said. “With these guys we’re going to talk about we need to win 10 games so we qualify for the districts, and we want to be one of the six teams that get in our league playoffs. We’ll worry about that and that’ll be our main goal. Let’s get there and see what happens after that.”

That task, however, won’t be an easy one with last year’s champion Saucon Valley looking to repeat, and a competitive field that includes Bangor, Northwestern and Notre Dame (Green Pond) all nipping at the Panthers’ heels.

“Saucon Valley won it last year, and they have six of their nine starters and two of their top pitchers back from last year,” Pochron said. “They’re definitely the favorite right now to win the league.”

Salisbury’s Colonial League opener comes on Tuesday at Pen Argyl.