The Big Lake baseball team will look a lot different this year.

The Hornets had 12 seniors on the roster last season and all those players are gone as a new season kicks off. And that will make this season very interesting.

There are four seniors and five juniors on this year’s entire baseball roster. Another 22 are ninth-graders.

“It’s going to be kind of a trial and error while we figure out who belongs where,” says second-year coach Loren Holthaus. “We’ve got some good young kids, but as far as my expectations, I have no idea.”

The Hornets finished 13-12 last year and won their opening round section game. That may be something to shoot for this year, but it’s too early to know how the team will fare.

Pitching is always a big factor, and the staff this season has more questions than answers.

“We’ll see what the pitching is like,” says Holthaus. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can throw, but they still have to prove they can be pitchers.”

A few JV players were pulled up to varsity at the

end of last season. But the reality is, only three players have any varsity experience. Many are JV players from last season.

Holthaus says most of the players are competing for positions on the field. Junior Keenan Hjermstad will be the starting catcher. But he also pitches, and when he’s on the mound it will cause some shifting to make it work. Backup catcher Jaxyn Tschritter plays on JV, so he has to move up when Hjermstad pitches.

It looks like Conner Stern will play center field. Nolan Reiter plays left field, some infield and does some pitching. Isaiah Terlinden is one of the pitchers, but the rest of the positions will develop as the season progresses.

“The main thing is, we have to throw strikes and we have to be able to hit the ball,” says Holthaus. “That was our problem last year, we were so inconsistent hitting.”

He says the team has talent, but not varsity experience. Many players were on travelling teams, so they have some experience playing at a higher level. But they are unproven so far, and there might be a lot of shifting between varsity and JV as the players work to earn their spot.

“Some guys will need a JV uniform one week and varsity the next week,” says Holthaus. “There’s going to be a lot of guys moving around until we can figure out who can handle varsity before we keep them there.”

The Hornets were scheduled to host Cambridge-Isanti to open the season Tuesday. That game was postponed to May 25 due to weather. Thursday’s game against Princeton was also postponed. Weather permitting, they host Holy Family Catholic 4:30 p.m. Monday, visit Chisago Lakes Tuesday and host St. Francis 4:30 p.m. Thursday.