Emmaus is a high school baseball program that looks to reload rather than rebuild.

The Hornets graduated 10 seniors that were significant contributors last spring. The team will embark on a youth movement this season, but the Hornets plan to push through any growing pains and have a successful season.

“We’re just going to look to compete and win,” said senior catcher Bryan Kain. “Because that’s the standard here and that’s what we want to do.”

Kain returns behind the plate after taking over as starter a few games into last season. He will handle an experienced pitching staff of juniors led by Cole Moreau, who was one of the top pitchers in the East Penn Conference last season.

Moreau went 5-3 in 10 appearances last spring, posting a 1.64 ERA over 42.2 innings, the most on the team. He struck out 62 batters and walked 25.

Jaden Betz also returns to the starting rotation after pitching 16 innings last season. Robert Barnes pitched 8.2 innings last year and will be a spot starter and high-leverage relief pitcher this season.

“Those are the three guys that will throw the most innings for us,” said EHS head coach Jeremy Haas. “They’ve grown a lot in the last year and I’m happy with where they are at.”

Moreau, Betz and Barnes accounted for 65 of the team’s 135 innings pitched last year.

While the Hornets have some experience on the mound, the players behind them will all be new to the varsity level as last year’s infield and outfield featured all senior starters.

“We have a bunch of guys and I feel good about them,” said Haas. “We’re just a little younger, and that’s OK. You’re not going to be old all the time. Sometimes you have to get young. There’s a bunch of young guys who are eager for an opportunity and are going to do their best with it.”

Emmaus graduated its top six hitters by average last season.

Senior Drew McGeehan, who batted .250 in 19 plate appearances in 2024, is the team’s top returning hitter. Senior Aaron Fleetwood played in 20 games last year and recorded 25 at bats.

“I feel like we have a lot of good young guys,” said Fleetwood, a short stop. “Really no one specific, but I think our whole younger group is pretty good. We just have to get experience and I think we’ll be really good this year.”

Haas said the lineup will likely feature a couple sophomores and several juniors who are seeing their first varsity action, along with one senior who could crack the line up this year.

“It will be fun to watch them get after it,” Haas said of his young roster. “I think we will pitch well and play good defense. Those are the two cornerstones of any good team. If we can do those two things I’ll be happy.

“On top of that we’re going to manufacture. We’re going to find new ways to score runs. We are a little more athletic, a little faster. It lends itself to doing some other things offensively. It won’t be the same way we’ve been doing things but we’ll find a way to score runs.”

Emmaus opened the season last Friday with a 6-3 win over Blue Mountain.