Strange game, this baseball.

Last season, it was the Bow baseball team’s lack of pitching depth behind senior Ben Sonberg that may have cost it a shot at the Class I title. A year later, it loses Sonberg. And the Falcons’ staff is expected to be better?

Such is the case, said Bow coach Ben Forbes, who this year sports a rotation of four juniors and one sophomore who are expected to help boost the Falcons back into contention for the Class I crown.

At times overmatched last year as underclassmen, Andrew Knight, Danny Achorn, Jimmy Richards, Colby Hall and Joey Pelton should only benefit from the year of experience, Forbes said. And with a solid defense playing behind them and a dangerous lineup in support, Bow doesn’t expect to lose a step despite graduating five key seniors from last year’s squad.

“Those (five returning) kids I really think will be more of a force on the mound just simply because they’re stronger, bigger, more experienced,” said Forbes, who led Bow to 12-7 record last spring.

“And I think it’s definitely going to be a better year pitching on average, as opposed to the up-anddown of the Sonberg-and-youngkid exchange (we had last year).”

Together, the five all tend to induce groundballs, a good thing considering the team’s infield of Eric Fortin, the team’s lone senior who can play anywhere on the diamond; Achorn, who’ll play short when he’s not pitching; Hall, who’ll play first; Richards, who can play third or outfield; and Pelton, the team’s everyday catcher.

But they also bring their own signature styles. Though nursing a case of bicep tendonitis that may keep him out of the team’s opener at Monadnock on Wednesday, April 11, Knight can touch 88 or 89 miles per hour on the radar gun with his fastball, Forbes said, and serves as a good complement to the team’s other control pitchers.

Achorn and Pelton locate their pitches well, with Pelton adding an effective breaking ball, while Hall and Richards are simply consistent, a valuable asset in high school baseball when throwing strikes is “half the battle,” Forbes said.

All five also bring a nice bat to a lineup led by Fortin and supplemented by Ian Hanson, a junior outfielder who has also played catcher in the past.

Bow’s nicest surprise may be Tanner Keefe, a sophomore second baseman who sprouted six inches to enter camp at 6- foot-2. But overall it will be that 12-man junior class that will pay the most dividends this year and, with luck, next season as well.

Juniors Matt Raffio, Brian Raffio, John Romano, Glenn Walton, Jim Fellows, Josh Kleinberg and Jim Paveglio round out Bow’s varsity lineup.

“Right now, our goal is to try to finish one game better than we did last year,” Forbes said.

“We know that this crew, with the exception of very few kids, has been to the semifinals. They know what it takes to get there, and they’re prepared to set (us) up nice for the tournament and see what happens.”