The baseball team leaped out to a fresh start with a perfect record of 4-0 defeating Cary 7-1, Knightdale 13-11, Rolesville 11-1 and Green Hope 7-1.

The team had only five wins last season.

The players hope their early success reflects the rest of their season. They are optimistic to make the playoffs this year.

“As a team, we’ve scored half of the amount of runs in the first four games as we did total at the end of last season. We’ve had a lot more successful at bats, and we are smarter at the plate. Just a better approach all around,” senior shortstop and pitcher Cole Abshire said.

Some of those runs came off the bat of senior Carter Brogden who had 2 home runs in the first four games. Helping Brogden is senior pitcher Carson Lindsey with the wins and a home run against Green Hope.

Seniors Kyle Brewer and Abshire also recorded pitching wins in games 1-4, with senior Coleson Hunter adding one home run.

“We have definitely stepped up and gotten more hits. Myself, I have definitely stepped up. I probably have doubled the amount of hits I had last year at this time,” Brogden said.

The boys dropped their first game against Rolesville 13 to 10 March 10. They had only two hits going into the sixth inning. A six-run sixth and a three-run seventh were not enough to dig themselves out of the hole.

Lindsey had a grand slam in the comeback.

The team rebounded the following day with a 10-0 five-inning romp over the Broughton Capitals. Abshire pitched a complete game for the win.

The balance of both offense and defense has improved from last season where the cougars seemed to struggle.

“Pitching this season has been much better than it was last year,” Lindsey said.

According to players, increased practice time has been one reason for the early wins, and the team hopes to continue this trend of effort.

Abshire said, “During the off season we had a bunch of work outs, and we actually put time into it. We practice 4 ½ hours a day and 6 days a week.”

Editor’s note: The team traveled to Millbrook last night for the second conference game. The Cougars were defeated 9-1.