The Scorpion baseball team may have lost a few players to graduation last spring, but the senior leadership on this year’s team is more than solid, according to first-year Head Coach Randy Hafner.

“I like our senior leadership. They’ve been working hard and giving a good example to the younger guys to show what it means to play varsity baseball,” Hafner said.

Returning from the 2011 team that qualified for the 3A conference state playoffs and finished 17-10 overall are seniors Arley Leyva, Bradley Cox, Seth Giorgianni and Corey Burns.

Leyva will be at his familiar spot at first base this spring and will hit third in the order while Cox will lead off and play center field for Sedona.

Leyva is expected to be the No. 1 pitcher for Sedona while junior newcomer Mauro Trahin will be No. 2 and start behind the plate when he’s not pitching.

Burns should fit nicely in the cleanup spot and play third base while Giorgianni will more than likely start at second base.

After that, positions and batting order are up in the air, according to Hafner.

Top newcomers this year include sophomore Carlos Rodriguez, who should play shortstop for the Scorpions, while junior Alexis Leyva gets some time at first base.

Sophomore Kyle Thumbwood is a newcomer while five freshmen made the team, including Zeke Saxman, Joshua Hafner, Wesley Mikulewicz, Scotty Moker and Tucker Davis.

In fact, seven of the 18 players out for Sedona this year are freshmen, giving the first-year skipper Randy Hafner quite a job to perform.

“In our scrimmage we had some very good pitching, but we made too many errors on the routine plays. I told our guys at the start if we make all the routine plays we will compete, and that was proven in the scrimmage,” Hafner said.

Sedona is scheduled to open the season Friday, Feb. 24, when it welcomes Mingus Union High School. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.