Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Boardman senior Dustin Coss swings at a pitch during a regular season game against Canfield last year.

BOARDMAN — One of the keys to any successful spring baseball season is depth, especially for pitching. Returning several key starters, Boardman feels like they have the experience on the field to build off for 2024.

Nothing is more valuable than logging innings of varsity action.

“I see a team that has a really good group of seniors, good leadership. I like our depth on the mound. We played young last year. Since we played young last year, we’re bringing back a lot of guys that have varsity experience,” Spartans coach Joe Gabriel said. “When you play, these guys get that experience early on in their career. It makes the following year or next two years that much better.

“You’re not reteaching as much, you’re going into the season kind of in review and you also hope that with that experience comes production, and I feel like we’re going to get that this year.”

Senior Dustin Coss (3.15 ERA, 2-2) and sophomore Collin Resetar (1.10 ERA, 1-0) return as last year’s No. 2 and No. 3 pitchers, and will handle starting duties this spring. Seniors Adam Konnerth and Charlie Young and juniors Grayson Eicher and Mason Nawrocki will provide bullpen support.

“Collin is 6-foot-5, he’s a big kid, so definitely can have a nice presence on the mound, but Dustin Coss, he’s more of a crafty righty, going to locate. Both guys have good stuff. They both locate their fastball well, and they have good secondary pitches,” Gabriel said. “We definitely feel that just because someone is having a rough day on the mound, we will definitely go to our bullpen and use different guys.”

Eicher, returns at the Spartans’ leader in batting average and RBIs, posting a line of .304, with 14 runs batted in, alongside 13 walks last season. He’ll see action at first base and in the outfield to complement senior center fielder Marty Stachowiscz (.301 BA, 12 RBI, 14 walks, 8 steals) and senior infielder Ryan Conti (.290 BA, 11 RBI). Young remains behind the dish, keeping base runners on their toes as a standout catcher, defensively.

Senior infielder Ben Herrmann, a Division I commit to Lafayette College, eyes an impactful spring campaign after missing action last season due to transfer rules.

“It just goes back to guys being unselfish, and we’ll try to manufacture quite a bit at times, and give our pitching and defense some breathing room to work as well,” Gabriel said. “We always schedule tough, our out-of-conference (slate) is always tough from year to year. It’s a very good conference with Canfield, Fitch, Howland and Harding. We play each of them twice. Those games are always intense, (and) always played closely usually, so hopefully we’re playing our best ball toward the end of the season.”

On the schedule is a trip to Orlando, Florida to play six contests against teams from states such as Georgia and Maryland. Back in the Mahoning Valley, non-conference foes include the likes of Warren John F. Kennedy, South Range, Poland and West Branch.

When it all boils down to it, just playing unselfish baseball and staying loose are keys to having success.

“In this day and age, guys tend to worry a lot about statistics or exit velocity or velocity on the mound. We just try to preach: play unselfish, do things for the guy next to you and good things can happen,” Gabriel said. “You just try and keep guys relaxed and focused and just keep them enjoying the game. I think that’s the biggest thing you have to do.”

The Spartans dropped their season opener to Howland 10-4 on Monday, and the second game of the series with the Tigers on Tuesday was rained out. Boardman and Howland will resume their series Wednesday at Cene Park at 5 p.m.

Have an interesting story? Contact the Sports Department, at sports@tribtoday.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribChronSports.