POULSBO — North’s hardballers lost the senior nucleus of their team last year, but a incoming crew of potential-packed sophomores joining with an already athletically sound team is providing promise in NK’s 2006 baseball season.

Not too mention the positive influence of tradition North’s newly hired head coach Jeff Weible brings to the diamond. Weible — NKHS alumni and catcher from the 1988 NK state champion squad — is taking the reins of his first head coaching spot this year with a bundle of youth.

“Love for the game,” Weible said, is the one of this year’s team’s best qualities. “These kids have grown up playing the game.”

Now the task facing Weible and his players is translating that love into success by putting all of the pieces together. With only two returners from last year’s state bound squad, 2006 provides somewhat of a clean slate.

“Last year was a good year, we lost a lot of good players but I think we have a shot at going further in the playoffs than they did,” said first baseman Jordan Nakaya, noting that last year’s JV put up .369 batting average while collecting a 16-4 record on the season.

Though it may take the North’s younger hitters time to get used to the speed of varsity pitchers, NK’s varsity returners Jordan Prince and Ryan Anderson should be able to contribute hits right off the bat.

Defensively, Weible is already expecting a solid infield with Nakaya and Prince anchoring first and third base respectively. While Anderson should be the pivot of the outfield in center.

“We’ll have pretty good depth pitching wise because we’ve got a lot of arms,” Weible said noting that the pitching staff is roughly seven deep with a variety of hurlers.

Prince and Nakaya are the only players with varsity pitching experience, but last year’s JVers Brett Whitman, Grant Swigert, Josh Corso, Jesse Cummings, Kelly Wells will contribute. Sophomore Tucker should also bring the heat.

“Confidence in this program is tradition, so I think there is some pressure on the kids to keep things going,” Weible said. “I think the kids coming in will step right up to carry on.”

“We all work well as a team. We are all friends,” Tucker said, noting that with all the talent in place the Vikes need to remember to focus on the little things. “We just need to get the basics down and produce.”

Two weeks of preseason practice has produced only the tip of the iceberg in what Weible calls a ridiculous amount of time to prepare for a baseball season.

Regardless, the Vikes will embark on the season with their first game against Bainbridge at 3:30 p.m. March 13 at the NKHS diamond.