Senior captain Julien Shadle said in his final year on the team he looks forward to enjoying every moment with his teammates.

“Just playing with the guys, having one last go around, just having fun,” Shadle said. “For myself (my goal is) just to grow as a leader and an athlete.”

Head varsity baseball coach Brian Kelly said he aims to improve the team’s dynamics.

“I’d like to improve on our team defense and our ability to throw strikes,” Kelly said. “I’d also like to improve on the overall character and development of our program to help our boys from the freshman team all the way to the varsity team.”

Shadle said the team’s biggest goal this year is to play in the state tournament.

“As a team we’re looking to make it to the state tournament. We got really close last year and our goal is to, this season, make it there for the first time since 1954,” Shadle said.

Kelly said through the implementation of new accessories to the equipment he hopes to help the players remember their values.

“One thing that’s going to be different from last year is that every kid is going to have a bag tag on their baseball bag that’s going to have all of our SLP baseball values on it,” Kelly said. “On the other (side) something called ‘On the Field I Will (…).’ Having those little goals that we carry with us everywhere.”

Shadle said the team roster resembles last year’s, but the leaders on the team have changed.

“A lot of kids who weren’t leaders last year have to step up and really take on a leadership role and help make the team better,” Shadle said.

Kelly said coaches and players were able to get to know each other well last season and will be able to use those relationships to improve the team overall.

“The way our coaching staff goes about things will be a little different,” Kelly said. “We learned a lot about what makes our players tick and last year we spent the year trying to figure that out. This year I think we know our players really well.”

Kelly said he is especially excited about this season because of the success other park teams have experienced this year.

“This year it’s been really cool to see the football team get a playoff win, the hockey team get a playoff win, and basketball get a playoff win,” Kelly said. “Now I kind of feel like we’re up.”

The first varsity boys’ baseball game takes place 7 p.m. Apr. 6 at Dakota Park against DeLaSalle.