It has the talent, a mixture of youth and experience, a nice balance of pitching and hitting. But the Derryfield School baseball team also has concerns.

After starting the season on a 5-0 tear and outscoring their opponents a mind-boggling 79-12 in that stretch, the Cougars and their hopes of a double digit-win season were brought back to earth last week.

In dropping three straight games, the latest a heart-breaking 6-5 loss to previously winless Pittsfield on Monday, May 14, the Cougars realized the problems that didn’t hurt them to start the season – errors, walks and a lack of communication – are now robbing them of momentum entering their busiest stretch.

Starting with a showdown at Nute on Wednesday, May 16, they have seven games scheduled in 10 days, meaning less practice time for a squad that already went the previous week without it.

It has Derryfield coach Jeff Hastings worried.

His team committed six errors, wasting a 10-strikeout performance from starter P.J. Kutz of Windham.

“At 5-0, I think I told them that even in those victories, we still weren’t doing the little things right, but we were fortunate to be the beneficiary of 10 walks, and then to have 15 hits on top of it, you can pull games like those out,” said Hastings.

Though the Cougars generated five runs off six hits against Pittsfield on Monday, regaining that stroke isn’t necessarily the problem.

With spark plugs Steve Burke and Curtis Lamp at the top of the order – the Bedford natives combined for three runs scored against Pittsfield – Derryfield has the table-setters for senior Chris Sears of Bedford, who went 3-for- 3 with two RBI and a run scored; Larry Longo, who scored a run; and Kutz, who drove in two.

Other hitters like Carl Crafts, one of the team’s top pitchers along with Candia’s Matt McCormick; Michael Kane, its catcher; and Duke Logan of Windham provide solid bats behind Auburn’s John Kalliel, the No. 6 hitter.

Sears agreed the young team, with only four seniors, may have gotten a little too high on itself after the quick start, an attitude that was quickly corrected by the recent slide.

“It’s definitely a reality check,” said Sears, who pitched two innings of relief on Monday.

That aside, Derryfield still feels it’s capable of its goal of 10 to 11 wins.

“We’re just going to have to fight for (them),” Hastings said.

“We can definitely win. We’re just losing our focus out there,” Kutz said. “There were mistakes that I made, mistakes in the field and mistakes by everyone. We haven’t had many practices in the last week, but we can’t blame it all on practice. We just need to focus. It starts right there.”