By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

TURNER – They didn’t have to load a moving van with equipment, and there weren’t any snowbirds or autograph hounds waiting for them in the bleachers when they arrived.

The first day of spring was also the first day for high school pitchers and catchers to report across the state. That included the young Leavitt Hornets, and while there wasn’t quite the buzz surrounding teams in Florida and Arizona when they reported for spring training, optimism still reigned in Turner.

“Making the playoffs, like we did two years ago, would be huge,” senior pitcher Chris Brewer said. “That’s my main goal.”

The Hornets finished out of the playoffs last year with a 5-11 record and will return just three starters to a tough KVAC, where last year’s top two teams, defending state champion Oxford Hills and Eastern A runner-up Edward Little, have many of their starters returning.

“We don’t face too many soft teams,” said Hornets coach Dave Morin. “The KVAC is a pretty balanced, solid division.”

Anything seems possible from now until the season opens officially on April 19 at Lewiston, though.

“We’re going to be inexperienced, but I think we’ve got some good talent coming up,” Brewer said.

Brewer and junior Tim Doyle are the only Hornets with any varsity mound experience, and Doyle pitched in three games as a sophomore only because he was pressed into spot duty by injuries.

“It made me realize that I need to hit my spots a little bit more and just be more accurate,” Doyle said of his invaluable, if unexpected, varsity experience.

Developing accuracy is one of the objectives of the season’s first practices. The Maine Principals’ Association allows each team to work out with a maximum of eight pitchers and two catchers for a week before try-outs are held. The idea is to have pitchers throwing strikes and the batteries as close to game shape as they can be by Opening Day.

But most players know better than to make Monday their first day to pick up a baseball. Brewer said he’s been working at The Winning Edge in Auburn for about a month, taking some swings in the batting cage and throwing to get his arm loose for yesterday.

“You don’t want to come in with this being your first day throwing,” he said. “You want to get prepared.”

Unfortunately, Brewer knows this from experience, having strained the triceps in his throwing arm last year at this time. The injury limited him to designated hitter duty and only two innings on the mound.

As exciting as it is to be playing catch again, there’s no need to rush things, he said.

“The first day, you don’t want to go hard. You just want to get your arm loose with, like, 15 or 20 pitches,” Brewer said. “You tend not to throw a lot of breaking stuff. Just get your arm loose, find your location, and as the week goes on work your breaking stuff in.”

Opening week is as much, if not more, about getting the legs ready as the arms and the brain. The pitchers and catchers do a lot of running and conditioning work, such as jump rope and medicine balls in addition to throwing off a makeshift mound in the gym.

“We’re trying to get these guys to a point where they’re going to stay healthy all year,” Morin said. “That’s hard in this state because you’re going to be inside a lot.”

Yes, the reality of high school baseball in Maine is that gymnasiums have to pass for diamonds for at least a couple of weeks.

Other than a wind-damaged visitor’s dugout and some lingering water in the outfield, the Hornets home field doesn’t look much different than it will for their home opener with Oxford Hills. The recent sunny and windy weather has Morin hoping it will be ready for their first exhibition game, which is just two weeks away.

The Hornets have a lot of work to cram into the next fortnight, though, so the most important thing about giving the pitchers a head start, Morin said, is getting them into a routine.

“These guys have all of our attention this week, but next week, it’s going to be try-outs and you’re going to have everyone else in here,” he said. “They’ve got to do it on their own. After this week it’s really tough with the pitchers because they’ve got to take care of business themselves because we’ve got to look at everybody else.”