Coach Martin Fanning announced that Varsity Baseball practice will begin on March 16 at Whitney Park.

After losing five starters from last season, including standouts Dimitri Bryant, Kevin Borowiec, Alex Lafayette, Nelson Morao, and James Patterson, Fanning will soon find out what the newcomers will offer.

Senior infielder Brett Layman hopes to improve on their pitching staff.

“We lost our top three starting pitchers,” says Layman, “so we have to find and almost completely new pitching staff.”

The boys had a record of 11-9 last season and went 1-1 in the playoffs.

“I hope that we can make it into Western Mass for the fourth year in a row,” says Layman.

If the team makes it to Western Mass, this will be the first time Ludlow has made the playoffs four consecutive years in a long time.

Fanning, who has been coaching at LHS since 1991, believes he has the staff to make it.

“We do have some strong players,” he says. “Brett Layman is a four-year starter, only the third in the last 20 years, and Zach Frangules and Connor Duquette are both three-year starters so we do have some experience.”

Like Layman, however, the coach expressed some concern over pitching.

“We really have to find a catcher and some pitching. All but 16 innings of our pitching graduated. Connor Duquette and Austin Harris have some pitching experience. Brett pitched a little his freshman and sophomore years. Chris Charest and Nick Chisholm also saw a lot of action last year. Chris started at third base and Nick moved into the starting lineup in the middle of last season,” says Fanning. “Overall, we have the potential to do well, but we really have to answer the pitching and catching questions.”

It’s unlikely that with all the snow covering the fields the boys will be able to practice outdoors. Until the fields are ready, they will be practicing in the gym.