Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Lakeview returning senior Andrew Brown throws a pitch during the playoffs last year.

CORTLAND — At the onset of last season, the Lakeview Bulldogs baseball team was confident in its ability to win games and felt solid in all three facets of the game.

That success compounded itself into an impressive 20-6 overall record, a Division III district title and a NE-8 Conference championship, along with several individual accolades for its players and head coach Cam Carson.

“We felt really good about where we were last year and the guys we had,” Carson said. “We felt like it was a good building block for us to move this program forward and feed off of it for years to come.”

The team this year, however, plans to build off the success from a season ago and the team has high expectations this season. With the success of the team last year, Carson believes it has rubbed off on the current squad.

“We have a lot of guys who saw a lot of playing time last year and got to experience being around those veteran seniors we had,” he said. “That group we had was really talented and did a great job of showing the young guys how to show up every day and what it takes to get to that high of a level.”

The team is fueled from the accomplishments of last year and are hungry to get back to that postseason spot, according to Carson.

“Something to be excited about this year is how motivated this group is to take that next step forward,” Carson said.

While the group is gearing toward opening day, the holes left by graduating seniors Gino Lazzari, Tyler Capan and Andrew McRoberts will be hard to fill. Carson believes, however, his team has the talent to fill those slots.

Up the middle, Carson is leaning on sophomore Brandon Toot to take the shortstop position. As a freshman last year, he saw time at the position previously held by Capan. Carson said he anticipates a smooth transition.

“(Toot) learned a lot from Capan last year and is a really good baseball player, so we think he’ll be able to pick up right where Capan left off,” Carson said.

To replace McRoberts, sophomore Isaiah Lantz will be tasked with the centerfield position. After the season, Carson informed Lantz that the position would be his for the next few years.

“He’s a smooth player and athlete. I told him to run with it and he’s done a good job of it so far,” Carson said.

The biggest impact of the graduating class, however, will be filling the role of Lazzari. Carson said, as a utility player, Lazzari played all over the field. In terms of a replacement, Carson said it will be by committee.

“We have a lot of sophomores in the mix who can step up and fill his spot, but it’s still up in the air,” he said.

From the onset of the season with practices and scrimmages, Carson said he is impressed at the team’s resilience. He spoke of a recent scrimmage that got off to a rocky start. In a scrimmage, where the final score isn’t a factor, the team still found ways to get better.

“We have a lot of gamers on our team and, as cliche as it sounds, when the going gets tough, the guys get going. They don’t waiver when pressure mounts and situations get tense. I think they’ll battle through anything,” Carson said.

MEET THE TEAM

As a team with a good representation of players from all grades, Carson is leaning on two of his seniors, Andrew Brown and Jake Nicholas, to step into that leadership role. He noted the duo have the most experience at the varsity level and can take command of the team when necessary.

“Brown has had a lot of success on the mound and has been in some of the biggest spots we’ve had in the last few years. He knows what it takes to succeed in those moments and how to relax,” Carson said. “Nicholas has that about him too. He’s always calm, cool and collected. The guys really look up to him, respect him and look to him in our high pressure situations. Those two will lead the charge for us.”

For the other seniors on the team, Carson said practices have become competitive because “it’s a dogfight for the other seniors to get in the lineup every day.”

“I think (the competition) will help us in the long run because, every practice, they’re competing for playing time,” he said.

With opening day around the corner, Carson hinted at the depth at many positions. Behind the plate, he said senior Aidan O’Rourke and sophomores Nathan Paolucci and Hayden Newton will all see time as catcher. At first base, he said senior Matthew DeProfio, junior Carter Doran and Nicholas could all see the field. At second base, freshman Eli Gough has the position, but Paolucci could be thrown in the mix. Nicholas, Newton and Paolucci could be in the hot corner at third base.

On the mound, Carson said Brown will be Lakeview’s ace this season. He alluded to some intangibles Brown possesses as the deciding factor.

“His poise has been really good in the last few years. He knows exactly what he wants to do when he gets on the mound and he has much better command of his pitches,” Carson said. “He can really locate his fastball and has worked on throwing breaking balls for strikes and striking people out. His command and poise has been impressive so far.”

Carson also said Paolucci will be the number two in the rotation, explaining he’s made a huge jump in the offseason and the skipper has high expectations for the sophomore hurler. Rounding out the rotation will be sophomore Jacob Shaker and Toot. Coming in for relief will be junior Jason DeMonica and senior Nolan Toth.

With a few scrimmages under their belt, Carson believes the Bulldogs’ strength this year will be their batting lineup.

“We have a lot of depth in our lineup and, one through nine, we can produce and guys can do different things offensively,” Carson said.

He believes the strength of the team’s bats will come through, regardless of where the team is in the batting order.

“We don’t feel that as we go down our lineup that we waiver off at the bottom. We have guys who can hit for extra bases and guys who can move baserunners and be productive,” he said. “This is one of the deepest teams, in terms of full roster and people who could be in the lineup, we’ve had. We have guys who can come off the bench that we plug into the lineup and won’t miss a beat.”

The Bulldogs open up the season March 23 against Boardman.

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