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And, with a few surprises thrown in, Forest Area could just develop into a contender in the Ski Valley Conference.

Granted, a lot has to happen for the Warriors to become a viable league force.

Still, it has been done in the past.

Young players expected to gradually mature suddenly find their groove a little early and turn into major contributors.

Right now, though, Ponstein is keeping expectations on the realistic side as the Warriors prepared to open the season at home Tuesday against Traverse City Christian.

Whether that doubleheader would be played was open to question on Monday since the forecast called for rain.

As it was, some snow still covered the outfield last Sunday and the Warriors were set to start shoveling it off Monday.

Despite not having any seniors on the team, Ponstein is confident juniors Tyler Denike and Justin Gordon will step up and provide leadership and production.

Ponstein expects Denike to be one of the Warriors' starting pitchers and to play shortstop when he's not on the mound.

Gordon, meanwhile, will be the Warriors' starting catcher and be responsible for handling the young pitching staff.

Denike and Gordon played on the playoff-qualifying football team last fall, and that bond should carry over to the baseball diamond nicely.

John Ricketts and Collin Park are outfielders returning from last year. Incidentally, both of them also were on the football team. Ricketts was the starting quarterback.

"They are all real good athletes, and they work real hard in the off-season," Ponstein said. "We had a couple of mini-clinics and individual workouts, and those were the guys who were coming.

"We're running things a little bit different, and they've been picking up stuff that we've been working on. Those guys have been doing a very good job."

Ponstein has two sophomores who were on the team last year that he expects to get a little more playing time this season.

Alex Kellogg will be playing mostly third base, with Nick Birgy the team's number two pitcher behind Denike.

"The rest of the team will be freshmen, and I'll work some of those guys in a little bit and get their feet wet," Ponstein said.

"I'll play them behind the other guys, and still get some playing time. We have some pretty important roles for them, too."

Ponstein is also working with a couple of other players who have expressed interest in pitching.

Ron Fall, a freshman, is expected to join Park and Ricketts in the starting outfield for right now.

Jordan Griffin will be at short when Denike is pitching.

He has pretty good range according to Ponstein.

"Denike and Birgy will be solid pitching, and we'll be real good up the middle," Ponstein said.

"I think we'll be pretty good defensively. We've tried to work on some situational hitting and things this year.

"Obviously, we don't really know since we've been in the (batting) cage. But, we've been teaching them to get a good pitch to hit."

With this being Ponstein's first season as the Warriors' baseball coach, he hasn't had much of a chance to check out the league competition.

He's more concerned with preparing the Warriors to play well, and will let the rest take care of itself.

"If you do what you're supposed to do, you should be in just about every game," Ponstein said.

"That's what I'm looking at for these guys."