VOORHEESVILLE — The team will be small but talented this year.

There will be 12 players on the team, which will give Coach Hank Czerwinski a thin bench this season.
"It’s a little disappointing," Czerwinski said. "Hopefully, it changes in the future. But the junior-varsity has only 14 players."

The Blackbirds lost nine players from a team that won the Colonial Council last year for the first time ever.

However, the Blackbirds return a talented group of athletes and the league’s most valuable player, Peter Lindner.

Also returning is Stephen Cardinal who, as a sophomore last year, was named to the Colonial Council all-star first team at catcher.

Also returning are seniors Andy Catellier, Nick Duncan, and Jake Norris. Junior R.J. Curreri also returns. All four of those players saw considerable playing time last season and Catellier and Duncan are all-stars in football and basketball. Catellier will be playing football at Union College in the fall.
"Andy Catellier and Nick Duncan are senior pitchers," Czerwinski said. "With Lindner they give us three good starting pitchers."

Up from the junior-varsity team is sophomore Jay Conde.
"He’ll see significant pitching duty," Czerwinski said.

Junior Justin Arico is new to the varsity team as are classmates Pino Ragonese, Bryce Gray, Matt Henry, and sophomore Chris Massaroni.
"The one thing I’m worried about is the amount of baseball players in Voorheesville," Czerwinski said. "We’ll go with what we got."

"Athletic group"

Czerwinski said that pitching will be a strong point and that his team’s hitting will also get stronger.

And everyone will be contributing.
"The bench is stronger," the coach said. "Everyone will be playing somewhere. On paper, we look good. We’ll see what happens when we’re on the field and go from there.
"This is a very athletic group," Czerwinski added. "They will be playing different positions. Andy will be playing in the infield and outfield and will pitch."

Czerwinski said it will be a challenge for the Blackbirds to defend their Colonial Council title.
"It is high-school baseball," Czerwinski said. "Anything can happen. On paper, everything looks like it’ll work out. But it’s on the field that matters. We’ll see the best of everybody because we are the defending champions."

Czerwinski is worried that there could be a team out there looking to sneak its way to the league title like the Blackbirds did last season.
"There could be a team out there like us last year," the coach said. "They’ll be working to make their mark. We’d like to return as Colonial Council champions."

Czerwinski likes the talent on this team.
"If the expectations are fulfilled," he said, "we should be pretty decent. I like the consistency of the infield and outfield positions. The kids that aren’t pitching will be in different spots.
"We don’t have the luxury of a Bethlehem or Shenendehowa," Czerwinski said of much larger schools. "They have 18 or 20 students on their roster."

But the league is wide open, Czerwinski said.
"Who knows what’s going to happen," he said. "Anyone can take it. But we should be all right. We have the confidence to do well in the league. We have the confidence to be in sectionals and do well from there."