While some key aspects of the season that Cumberland County High School’s varsity baseball team had this year seem negative, there was cause for encouragement.

“We took a step in the right direction this year, but I’m obviously disappointed with our record,” Dukes Head Coach Paul Nelson said.

After going 3-17 last year and not advancing in the playoffs due to poor weather, Cumberland went 2-17 this year. The Dukes held the No. 7 seed in the Region 1B tournament and trailed host No. 2 Central Lunenburg High School 1-0 early in the quarterfinals before eventually having to forfeit due to poor weather conditions and lack of time.

“I don’t feel our record shows just how good a team we can be,” Nelson said. “We lost eight games by four or less runs, which is a reminder that we need to do a better job finishing games when we get ahead.”

Cumberland did not have any seniors on its squad this year.

“We’re a very young team and need to do a better job at continuing to develop and trying to build a winning mentality and becoming more vocal in our leadership,” Nelson said.

Breaking down the makeup of the Dukes’ 2018 roster, the coach said, “By the end of the year we had five freshmen (including two everyday starters), four sophomores (all contributors) and five juniors (all contributors).”

Nelson noted that the Dukes have done a good job of becoming a team that is competitive, raising its team batting average from .201 two years ago to .280 this year.

“We had five players finish the year batting over .300, including third baseman Addison Boyles, pitcher/first baseman Tristan Stinson, utility player Cal Smith, catcher Cole Fillman and center fielder Jason Cooke,” the coach said. “In addition shortstop Braden Gilman and third baseman/shortstop Jordan Smith have contributed greatly on the defensive side of the ball.”

“On the mound our anchor was Tristan Stinson who had almost twice as many strikeouts to walks this year and made seven starts throughout the season.”