Graduation, injuries and players who opted not to take the field in 2008 add up to Oak Harbor High School baseball team being one of the youngest in the WesCo North League.

Head coach Jim Waller, the dean of league coaches in his 30th season at the helm, said it’s difficult to tell how the young but feisty Wildcats will do this season.

“We have a good core of kids with Chris Valencia, Johnny Encinas, Chris Reilly and Danny Lura, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” Waller said.

Valencia, a senior, was voted an honorable mention all-league player last season as an outfielder.

Encinas, also a senior, handles the catching duties and will also pitch some this season.

Lura is an experienced senior pitcher who also plays first base, and Reilly is a senior infielder.

Other seniors on the roster are infielder Chris Vallery and outfielder Ben Wolfe.

Junior pitcher Bennett Richter, who had some varsity playing time late in the season last year, is back, along with sophomore infielder Patrick Higbee.

“Josh Higbee, Patrick’s cousin and also a sophomore, will play on the varsity,” Waller said. “He does some pitching as do juniors Josh Fikse and Kurtis Weaver.”

Junior Jim Kopke rounds out the roster. Waller said he will be moving players up and down between the varsity and junior varsity just like he did last year.

“A lot of other teams in our league had young teams last season, so they will have a lot of players returning,” he said. “We have a good group of kids both on and off the field and they make good decisions. That’s an important factor.”

The Wildcats open the season today, March 8, at the South Whidbey Jamboree and host Jackson in a 4 p.m. non-league game Tuesday, March 11.