Photo by Bruce Crawford Longtime Magnolia head baseball coach Dave Cisar stands with some of his players prior to the start of practice.

NEW MARTINSVILLE – You don’t see 8-15 seasons very often at Magnolia and long-time coach Dave Cisar is expecting a turnaround for his squad this season.

The Blue Eagles lost six times in the last two innings last season and Cisar thinks that is a sign that just fixing a thing or two will lead to better results this time around.

Cisar feels the strength of his team will be in his pitching with three seniors. The ace, though, may be a sophomore in the form of Jake Gamble (3-3, 4.0 ERA).

He will be joined by seniors Leo Herrick (1-1, 3.30), Dalton Pritchard (2-2, 3.80) and Billy Nice (0-2, 4.50) and junior Pat Mirandy (1-3, 4.50).

“We are returning all but one pitcher and we really like this group,” Cisar said. “They have pitched a lot of innings for us.”

Blue Eagles’ senior Brody Cartwright throws the ball to second.

Nice batted .312 last season and will be the battery mate at catcher when he is not on the mound. Senior Brody Cartwright will back him up.

Herrick will share duties at first base with junior letterwinner Matt Gaiser.

Jared Kocher started halfway through the season at second base and looks to begin the season there.

Pritchard hit .400 with 25 RBI as a junior and will man the hot corner.

Gamble spot played at shortstop last season and looks to get most of the work there, backed up by freshman Caden Cisar, Dave’s grandson.

Billy Nice’s cousin, Eli, will get some outfield work, along with Mirandy (.389, 15 stolen bases), Gaiser, freshman Silas McKeever and senior Zach Ware.

Freshman looking to break into the lineup are Hunter Quinif, Woody London, Charlie Taylor, Cooper Valentine and Caden Jones.

“We are really looking to atone for our stumbles and use that as a stepping stone for better things,” Cisar said. “We have a lot of good student-athletes that like the game of baseball and enjoy playing it like it used to be played.” The Eagles play tonight at South Harrison, 5:30 p.m.