The Pace Setters baseball team is expecting nothing less than success for 2016 season due to their experienced players and depth.

Last year the baseball team won the Southwest Division of the Northeast-10 Conference for the third time in the last four years. They went 21-18 overall and made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2012, but were eliminated by Adelphi University in the first round.

The playoff run set a bar for the team this year, but they’re still hungry for more than just a playoff spot.

“Whenever you make playoffs you want to get there again, you don’t want to have a down year so it definitely motivates you to get one step further,” said starting pitcher Dylan Mouzakes. “Nobody wants to make playoffs, be the one seed, and then lose to the fourth seed. It was disappointing and motivating.”

The expectation is to get back to the playoffs and stand very high.

They plan on doing it with an experienced group. There are no official designated captains. Instead, there are 20 upperclassmen that have been with the team for years. More than most lead by example.

Pace is also bringing in 10 new players—two transfers and eight freshmen. There’s a core that’s full of players who’ve been there before and that’s one of the only ways for the team blend itself together and form a cohesive unit.

“We’re an older club,” said Head Coach Henry Manning. “I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to sneak up on people. We should do what we did [Sunday] day in and day out. They know how to play, you just got to put them in the right position and let them play.”

The Setters baseball team’s ability was on full display in their season-opening 12-1 rout over the Dowling College Golden Lions last Sun., Feb. 28 at Peter X. Finnerty Field.

The scoring started off with first baseman Garret De Lotto’s third-inning 2 RBI triple. Pace would score 10 runs in the next four innings highlighted by two homeruns by right fielder Cory Capaldi.

“Before the game coach said be ready for fastballs and I think everyone was on top of that,” De Lotto said.

The victory revealed the depth of the team’s lineup as well as pitching.

Offensively, The lineup produced 17 hits, five for extra bases. Pace capitalized on a two-out error that sparked the offense and Mouzakes pitched seven innings allowing one earned run.

If there’s a weakness it’s their bullpen. There is a set four-man rotation, but it’s what will follow them that are a question mark.

“Outside of the rotation guys, we have to find out what kind of bullpen we have,” Manning said. “It’s going to take more than one game. Until we start our first league game, so the games leading up to that are our spring training that count.”

Manning will have to gauge what he has on terms of a bullpen over the course of the season. It won’t happen over night.

Pace baseball will take on Bloomfield College this Thurs., Mar. 3 at Peter X. Finnerty Field.