With a lineup that has seven of its eight position players back for this season, the Parkland baseball team opened the year with high hopes and thus far its hasn’t disappointed.

The Trojans have opened the season at 3-0 both overall and in the East Penn Conference with wins over Northampton (2-3 overall, 2-2 EPC), Allen (0-3, 0-3) and Pocono Mountain East (1-3, 1-3). They have outscored opponents 27-9. The pitching, a potential Achilles heel for the team this season, has held up through the early going with six of the nine runs it has allowed coming in the opener against Northampton.

“We return seven of our eight position players, but we return zero varsity innings [on the pitching staff] with the exception of a couple guys who are injured,” said coach Kurt Weber. “Once we figure out the pitching staff and they all get healthy, I think we are going to be fine.”

Owen DeLong, a junior, started the opener against Northampton and then returned in the third game of the season to beat Pocono Mountain East. On the season, DeLong is now 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in his two starts. DeLong was followed by freshman Steven Sepko, who got the start against Allen and in his first varsity innings allowed just two hits over three innings, walking five and striking out six.

Juniors Jaiden Wanamaker and Owen Ondrejca, along with seniors Blake Barthol and Sean Rivera have all seen time pitching in relief. Barthol has thrown two shutout innings and has six strikeouts in his two appearances and was part of last summer’s Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup team that competed in a game at Citizens Bank Park.

Having a young, unproven pitching staff is something new for the Trojans. Parkland has had a lot of success developing pitchers and always having multiple arms ready to contribute. Weber is still convinced that everything they need to be good is right there, except the experience.

“In the first game, people were making fun of me for how many times I was out on the field making changes, because we usually don’t have to do that,” said Weber with a laugh. “We’ll figure it out. I have a really good pitching coach and a good program that develops them. We’ve been very fortunate over the years.”

Against Allen, Sepko got off to a rough start until the offense started to turn up the heat against Allen pitching. Pitching with a lead, Sepko was able to relax and threw much easier with better results. Part of the hope is that while the pitchers gain more experience, the offense can help by giving the pitchers leads.

“You saw the difference in the game (against Allen),” said Weber. “As soon as we got the lead, our pitcher calmed down a little bit. If we get a cushion, it can make all of our pitchers better.”

The offense is a combined 35-for-90 (.389) in the early going. Junior Bo Barthol is leading the way with eight hits in 10 at-bats, seven runs scored and three driven in. Wanamaker is batting .556 (5-for-9) with four runs scored, and Andrew Keller is 5-for-10 (.500) with four RBIs. Catcher Matt Razzis is also off to a good start, batting .333 (3-for-9) with three RBIs.

Blake Barthol, the returning MVP of the East Penn Conference West Division, is looking forward to big things in his senior season and is off to a hot start on the mound and at the plate, where he is hitting .500 (5-for-10) with three runs scored and five driven in on the year.

“Having as many guys back as we do is ideal,” said Barthol of his hopes for his final high school season before heading to Coastal Carolina, where he will play baseball and major in business. “We have to keep working hard and have confidence in our at-bats, taking good approaches.”

Last season, the Trojans went to the EPC semifinals before being eliminated and then fell to Emmaus in the District 11 Class 6A finals. In the PIAA tournament, Parkland was taken out by Neshaminy in the first round of play.