BELLINGHAM

RED RAIDERS

Coach: David Farrell

Last year: Finished tied for third in the NWC (9-4). Finished second at the 2A Northwest District Tournament. Lost to Chehalis W.F. West in the first round of the 2A State Tournament to finish 15-7 overall.

Players to watch: Alex Check (sr. IF/P), Matt Richard (sr. IF/P), Aaron Burke (sr. OF/P), Connor Phelps (sr. C), Oscar White (jr. OF/P)

Outlook: The Red Raiders' trip to the regional last year was the program's first state appearance in seven years. "Our next step is to continue the success of the last couple of years for this program," Farrell said in a phone interview. "Kids are buying into what we're trying to teach. They love winning and want to continue playing good baseball." With a core group of seniors like Check, who has already committed to Bellevue College, Richard, Burke and Phelps, and some talented underclassmen, including White, Ryan Fox, Austin Shenton, Charlie Carmichael and Dante Check, there's no reason to think Bellingham can't continue to progress. Richard will be the team's top pitcher, and Farrell said figuring out the rest of the rotation will be the team's biggest early-season goal, as the offense and defense should be pretty solid. "I think our strength is our success of being there," Farrell said. "I think we have the mentality of wanting to win and achieve more this year."

2013 ROSTER

Player Yr. Pos.

Evan Benkarski So. OF

Aaron Burke Sr. OF/P

Charlie Carmichael So. IF/P

Alex Check Sr. IF/P

Dante Check So. IF

Bobby Cooke Fr. IF/OF/P

Jashawn Dorsey Fr. OF

Ryan Fox Jr. OF

Gabe Haskell Fr. IF

Danny Hassler So. IF/OF

Owen Jewell So. IF

Brad Johnson So. IF/P

Anthony Klimo Fr. IF/P

Akash Kumar So. OF/P

Zack McElroy Sr. OF

Liam McEniry So. IF

Nate Pearsall So. IF

Connor Phelps Sr. C

Aidan Quinn So. IF/P

Tyler Rasmussen Fr. C/IF/P

Alex Richard So. IF

Matt Richard Sr. IF/P

Alex Serena-Faro So. OF/P

Austin Shenton Fr. IF/P

Eric Thompson So. OF

Oscar White Jr. OF/P

William Woods So. C/IF

2013 SCHEDULE

March 11 at Cascade 1 p.m.

March 14 at Oak Harbor 4 p.m.

March 16 Friday Harbor Noon

March 18 Sedro-Woolley 4:30 p.m.

March 20 at Ferndale 4 p.m.

March 22 at Sehome+ 4 p.m.

March 23 Renton Noon

March 25 Squalicum 4 p.m.

March 27 Mount Baker* 4:30 p.m.

March 29 at Lynden* 4 p.m.

April 1 Lynden Christian* 4:30 p.m.

April 8 at Meridian* 4 p.m.

April 10 Blaine* 6:30 p.m.

April 12 at Squalicum* 4 p.m.

April 15 Sehome* 4 p.m.

April 17 at Sedro-Woolley* 4 p.m.

April 19 at Anacortes* 6 p.m.

April 24 Burlington-Edison* 6:30 p.m.

April 26 at Nooksack Valley* 4:30 p.m.

April 29 Ferndale* 3:30 p.m.

*NWC game; Game at Joe Martin Field

Reach DAVID RASBACH at david.rasbach@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2271.