It has been 10 years since Catasauqua’s baseball team had a winning season. The Rough Riders finished with an overall 12-9 record that season.

This spring, head coach Steve Bradley remains confident that his club can get back to its winning ways. The Roughies have a veteran core back as well as some promising newcomers among a group of 14 freshmen that has brought a new found sense of optimism. In addition, they have begun a middle-school program.

The Roughies’ 8-8 scrimmage with Tamaqua helped solidify the feeling.

“We have some good numbers,” said Bradley about the team’s 26 candidates. “We got a good mix, and they have looked good. In our scrimmage against Tamaqua, we started slow, but we finished strong.”

One concern again for the Roughies will be their pitching staff, and Bradley will turn to a seemingly abundance of potential arms.

Senior John Pushkar is a lead returnee along with sophomore Reese Lopez, junior Matt Fotta, sophomore Luis Collazo, and senior Ray Estecumber, who all will help set the pace on the mound.

“They’ll all see some action,” added Bradley. “We have some other guys, too. The one issue is that they all throw around the same speed. So, we really don’t have anyone who can shut a team down.”

Bradley will also look to returnees seniors Hunter Reitz and Bryce Emery for their leadership and experience. Juniors Aiden Hess and Lynkan Moore along with sophomore Gavin Hacker also will be in the mix.

Freshman infielder Osael Gonzalez has brought a good glove and speed.

Still, Bradley also realizes his team needs to jell. Catty finished last season with an overall 5-15 mark.

“We have done some nice things, but we still have a long way to go,” he said. “We believe we can hit the ball pretty consistently, and we’ll have to improve our pitching.

“We want to be competitive in every game.”