A year ago the Emmaus baseball team was heading into a new season with just one returning starter and a large group of juniors stepping into starting positions.

The Hornets managed to go 14-9 overall with their young 2023 roster, including a 12-4 mark in the East Penn Conference and appearances in the league semifinals and district playoffs.

Heading into the 2024 season, Emmaus has eight everyday starters returning and a large class of seniors looking to leave their mark on the program.

Four-year starter Noah Hogan said the team’s experience is showing at practice.

“You can tell by how we hold ourselves accountable each day,” said Hogan. “We have 12 seniors. We all want to get the job done. It’s our last year playing high school baseball so obviously we want to go out with a bang.

“I feel like we’ll have a lot of speed. I think we’ll be a good hitting team. I think our pitching will pan out. I think we’ll be well-rounded, which is a big strength.”

Hogan (23 RBI, 20 runs in 2024) is joined by returning seniors Colin Wilson (OF, 1.011 OPS), Cohen Schadler (INF, 1.003 OPS), Wiley Fleck (OF/P, .379 BA, 27 R), Emmit Budick (INF, 1.025 OPS, 17 RBI/R), Shane Ohl (P, 3-2, 34.2 IP), Chad Kauffman (INF/P, .321 BA, 15 R) and Dayne Schmidt (C/1B). Sophomore Cole Moreau (DH/P, .364 BA, 3-1, 1.03 ERA, 30 K) also returns for the Hornets.

Juniors Drew McGeehan (1B) and Aaron Fleetwood (utility) will also be part of the line up this season.

“I think we’ll be a pretty good team this year,” said Fleck, who batted lead-off last season. “The senior class has five guys that have played together since 9U and some of the juniors and sophomores played up with us too. We have a bunch of seniors who are hungry to win games and make it far and end their senior season with a boom.”

The Hornets looks to have speed up and down the line up this season and should be strong at the plate again.

They need to make up for the loss of their top starting pitcher in TJ Geist, one of three pitchers who graduated last year.

“We lost a lot,” head coach Jeremy Haas said of the pitching staff. “TJ was our best starter, but you could argue that Ohl and Moreau were our two and three starters and we bring them back.

“We have a lot of team speed. Offensively we should be solid up and down the line up. Our top nine I’d put against anyone in the area.”

With their speed the Hornets should also be solid defensively. Haas instills in his team that getting 21 clean outs is the key to success, and his players are ready to put that to practice this season.

“You can be slow with the bat, but if you’re not giving up extra base runners and unearned runs you can still be pretty good,” said Hogan. “I think that’s a top priority to play a clean 21.”