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The Crimson Bears lost more than four of their top starting pitchers with the graduation of five seniors from last season's state championship team. They lost their leadership.

"I don't want to be negative, but, unfortunately, we don't have a leader this year," Juneau-Douglas High School baseball head coach Jaime Kissner said. "But if we can battle, play hard and stay focused we'll be able to win the majority of our games. The key is being a team."

The Bears do bring back some cornerstones for this year's club and their season-opening roadtrip to Sitka this weekend. At the front of that pack is senior center fielder Corey Mahar, who brings his leadership experience from the football and basketball squads to resume his post as the club's leadoff hitter.

"We just want to start over and make sure this team's on track," Mahar said. "We're kind of a young team, but the seniors definitely need to be the leaders of the pack."

As the club's leadoff man, Mahar will lead the pack in more way than one, since the strengths of the current team are expected to be speed and putting balls in play - the specialties of his position.

Mahar is part of a group of five seniors on the team that includes the club's top returning pitcher Sean Bavard. The rest of the starting rotation, though, has limited experience on the varsity level. Junior Dylan Baker joins sophomores James San Miguel, Miles Bedford and Damon Ludwig as the likely rotation of starters this season.

"They're all guys who threw on varsity for us last season, but they just didn't get to pitch a ton with the (seniors) around," Kissner said. "We're definitely not as strong on the mound as in the past."

The team's closer from a season ago - current senior Dakotah Smith - suffered a rotator cuff injury as the JDHS quarterback last fall, and a crop of fresh faces will also need to fill the void he leaves.

Junior catcher Aaaron Cohen, who returns as arguably the team's most dangerous hitter and a rare power bat in the lineup, will likely start out as the club's closer and top relievers early in the season.

While the JDHS's arsenal of arms may need time to mature, Cohen believes the team's bats have gained an advantage due to a preseason that stretched exactly one month longer than expected when their April 2 openers at Craig were canceled.

"Our hitting is much better right now," Cohen said. "We've only been practicing indoors and that's just what we can work on."

Kissner agrees, saying that the club has already honed it's hitting and fielding techniques while other areas have suffered indoors prior to Tuesday's first outdoors practice.

Another benefit pointed out by a number of players and Kissner himself has been the added conditioning of the team's spring practices. With limited options of practice activities inside the field house, Kissner said he challenged his team to become better athletes.

"I never run them out of punishment, it's just us trying to get better," Kissner said. "One of the main things I tell our kids is to do something each day on their own or in practice to grow."

Middle infielder Vinny Isturis also returns after becoming one of the team's strongest hitters a season ago.

Kissner and company also have a few positions that are yet to be filled, including third base and left field.

"It depends on who's hitting the ball and who's not," Kissner said. "We have a couple of spots open and I think from week to week it's all going to be fairly open. Hopefully guys are competitive and hopefully they're trying to beat the other guys out."

Whether good or bad, Kissner re-emphasized that he is hoping to see his team work hard during their upcoming openers against Sitka and Colony during Friday's doubleheader and Saturday's game at Sitka.

"Hopefully we have enough leaders to get where we need to be and win another state championship," Cohen said. "I think we do.