Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan South Range’s Dominic Papuga makes contact with the ball in a game against Ursuline at Bob Cene Park on May 10, 2025.

South Range head baseball coach Jim Hanek is confident his 2026 team can climb back to the top of the Northeast 8 Conference (NE8) after a few years of parity in the league.

For the first three seasons of the NE8’s existence, the Raiders reigned, winning 37 of their 41 conference games and three titles. But since their last championship in 2022, they have not finished higher than third as Lakeview, Poland and Hubbard each took control of the crown.

“It’s hard to go undefeated,” Hanek said of the NE8. “I think it’s a tip of the cap to the teams in our league to mention that we’ve had how many different winners over the last few years. It’s not easy.”

Any potential league title bid, Hanek said, starts on the mound, where the Raiders are relying on Brennen Klasovsky, Julian Tranovich, Wilson Lower, Lincoln Cleevely and Stanley Magielski this season.

Magielski previously suffered a torn left labrum during soccer season in 2024, which led him to undergo surgery and miss last year’s baseball season. Will Gehring is similarly back and healthy after an injury-affected junior year, during which a knee issue kept him out of action until the latter half of the season.

Gehring and Magielski are among half a dozen seniors on this year’s team who have gone, to this point, without a league championship.

“They’re a good group, they’re a hard-working group,” Hanek said. “Just kind of looking at the effort they’ve put in this offseason, in the weight room, getting hitting in the cages, that sort of thing, I mean, they’re focused, they’re driven. I think there’s definitely a common goal. Everyone’s kind of moving in the same direction, looking to try to win the league title.

“I think there’s something to be said for that, sort of when you have a drought, so to speak, and haven’t won the league title. I think this group would really, really love to bring the league title back out to South range this year.”

To do so, Hanek understands that avoiding mistakes will be one of the key factors in whether the Raiders can accomplish their goal.

The longtime coach said he was once told that high school baseball games are more often lost than won, and he took that to heart.

“You gotta play as mistake-free baseball as possible,” Hanek said. “Mistakes are going to happen. It’s part of it, but you have to limit them. … Usually, the team that commits the fewest errors, makes the fewest mistakes, comes out on the winning side. So that’s definitely, I think, the recipe to try to win a league title.”

The season has already delivered some highs and lows.

In its opener on March 30, South Range shut out league rival Lakeview 3-0 in Cortland before losing the following day in a rematch 10-2. Since then, the Raiders have suffered four defeats, two of which by one run, to out-of-state opponents while in Myrtle Beach.

Regardless of the results down South, once back in the Valley, they will resume NE8 play with a back-to-back against Poland. South Range (1-5) is scheduled to visit the Bulldogs, who will have had a two-week break between games, on April 13 before hosting Poland on April 14.