A young Oak Harbor High School baseball team struggled in 2018; now experienced, the Wildcats expect to make a leap up the Western Conference standings.

Oak Harbor went 3-16 last year with a lineup that included only one senior. By contrast, this year’s club includes 10 senior lettermen: pitcher/infielder Joe Dixon, infielder/outfielder Caleb Fitzgerald, pitcher Ethan Pace, pitcher/infielder Thomas Anderson, outfielder Donny Kloewer, pitcher Noah Miller, pitcher/outfielder Austin Boesch, pitcher/infielder Taylor Rummel, outfielder Aaron Martinez and pitcher Jack Lovindale.

Also returning are junior pitcher/catcher Aiden McCarthy and sophomore pitcher/infielder Noah Meffert.

Kloewer earned first-team, all-Wesco honors last season, and Pace, Dixon, Fitzgerald, Boesch, Martinez, Anderson and McCarthy were all honorable mention.

Junior utility player junior Luke Golden, junior catcher/pitcher Kyto Morrow and sophomore pitcher/outfielder Jackson Powlowiczs are expected to fill out the varsity, according to assistant coach Harlan Miles.

The goals, according to Miles, are to get better day by day, game by game and week by week.

“We must get better on all phases of the game,” he added.

He also noted the senior class has to “show strength of character” for the Wildcats to contend.

Miles noted that the team will be young after this season, so the upperclassmen need to set an example for future varsity players.

“Mentoring is something we work on everyday as a team,” Miles said. “When you can teach, communicate and demonstrate technique properly, then you physically and mentally understand what you are doing. Reputation, when done correctly, will breed success.”

Miles is currently running the team for head coach Cody Anderson, who is on deployment. Anderson is expected back in the next few weeks.

The Wildcats will play in the Anacortes Jamboree Thursday, March 7, at a to-be-determined time.

The first game is in Oak Harbor when the Wildcats entertain Mount Vernon at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 12.