The North Moore baseball team is focused on bringing a Yadkin Valley Conference championship to Robbins this season.

Eight seniors return from last year’s squad that finished 16-10 overall and second in the league behind South Stanly with a record of 12-4 in conference play. Four of those seniors — Xavier Scotton, Tyler Wallace, Cody Johnson and Clint Vaughn — were all-conference selections.

Combine that fact with the team’s performances in its preseason scrimmages against Southwestern Randolph and The O’Neal School, and head coach Brandon Reynolds has a lot of be optimistic about.

“Every season, we want to be competing for the top spot in the conference,” he said at a recent practice. “The last week of the regular season (last season), we had a chance to go to South Stanly, and we lost a one-run game to them for the regular season (championship). Every year, I’ll take that last week of the season playing for that top spot. And that’s what we expect here at North Moore.”

The 2010 Mustangs made it to the semifinals of the YVC tournament, falling to Albemarle. They lost to Bessemer City in the first round of the 1A playoffs. This year’s experienced team is looking to build on that, and Reynolds believes it can compete with every team on the schedule.

“I felt like we got a tough playoff draw and we didn’t hit last year and it ended too quickly, I think, because we had a really talented junior-heavy team last year,” Reynolds said. “But I think the seniors this year from the offseason and to the scrimmages so far, they see the sense of urgency that it’s now or never. They know they gotta bring it every game.”

Expect the Mustangs to be aggressive this season. They’ll hit and run and attempt to steal. Reynolds says he has guys he trusts, and a couple of them will have the green light on the basepath. At the plate, he has a lot of players who have proven they can put the ball in play consistently.

Reynolds said that one through nine, his lineup is as good as any in the league. He also said the team is very strong up the middle defensively. Pitching is the question mark at this point, and Reynolds said the team is going to have to score runs and play defense in order to win.

One luxury the team has is it doesn’t have to rely on one person to be successful.

“We have so many different weapons,” Reynolds said. “I’m excited. On any given night, it could be somebody different. We don’t have to rely on one person to carry the load. That’s pitching and defense and offense. Hopefully, we’re the total team package.”

North Moore was scheduled to open its season Tuesday night at Albemarle and travels to Lexington tonight. Its home opener is Friday afternoon against West Montgomery at 4:30.

Contact John Krahnert III at sports@thepilot.com.

Schedule - Mar. 1 at Albemarle; 2 at Lexington; 4 West Montgomery; 8 at East Montgomery; 11 Chatham Central; 15 South Davidson; 16 at Asheboro; 19 at Fairmont; 21 South Stanly; 22 Gray Stone; 25 at South Stanly; 26 Fairmont; at North Rowan; Apr. 1 Albemarle; 5 at West Montgomery; 8 East Montgomery; 12 at Chatham Central; 15 at South Davidson; 20 at Bishop McGuinness; 21 Union Pines; 22 Gray Stone; 29 North Rowan; May 2 at YVC tournament.