Following their run to the championship game last season, the CESJDS Lions varsity baseball team is set for the 2016 season. With a combination of new faces and determined veterans, the Lions have high expectations and hope to have another successful season.

Last year, the Lions finished off the regular season with a 5-4 record and entered the playoffs as the three-seed. Following tight victories against Washington Christian Academy and the Field School, the Lions’ season ended with a 4-0 loss to the Sandy Spring Friends School in the championship game.

According to Lions varsity baseball coach Steve Forestieri, the team’s improvement throughout last season is what allowed them to make a deep playoff run.

“We progressed from day one, we got better, the team really worked on improving their skills and their day-to-day play, and it payed off toward the end,” Forestieri said. “We made it to the championship game of the tournament and we just came up a little bit short offensively.”

Despite last season’s disappointing ending, Forestieri has high hopes for the upcoming season. In order for the team to return to the championship and hopefully win, Forestieri stresses the fundamentals and has the team work every day to perfect them.

Junior Gabe Cohen, a catcher and captain for the varsity team, has been very impressed with the team thus far and also has high hopes for this season.

“Energy, excitement, we’re looking pretty good on offense and defense; it should be pretty nice,” Cohen said.

As a captain, Cohen has taken an active role in bringing energy to the team and being a role model for the younger players.

One of such younger players, sophomore Zach Gordon, was the Lions’ opening day starting pitcher and believes that the key to victory this season is the team’s offense.

“[The focus has] mostly been our hitting and our offense because defensively we are a pretty sound team, at least fundamentally,” Gordon said. “Our pitching staff is very good, but hitting has always been our big problem.”

Gordon said that the team has focused heavily this year on individual skills in smaller groups as opposed to working as a full team. In this way, the team can grow, specifically on offense. Having improved upon their fundamentals, Gordon believes that the team has a bright future and should be “much more successful” than last year.

“I think that this year’s team is much more talented than last year’s team and that we’re also much closer as a team,” Gordon said. “We have much more of a bond and connection than we did last year, and I think that we can be much more successful.”

Ultimately, the final goal for the team is a championship victory.

“Hopefully we are going to win it all, but I think realistically it will be us versus Sandy Spring in the championships again,” Gordon said.