Although Seneca Valley enters the 2008 baseball season as defending state champions, coach Eric Semega wants his team to keep things in perspective and remember how it got to Blair County Ballpark last year to claim the PIAA title.

The ball bounced the Raiders' way throughout the season last year as they won seven of eight one-run games. The only reason they even had a chance to make their way through the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs was because of another one-run win over Plum, 6-5, in the WPIAL third-place consolation game.

"Since we have started this season, we just put things in perspective of how our season went last year," Semega said. "If a ball bounces differently in any of those games or we don't get a big out somewhere, we could have lost more of those one-run ballgames and be in a completely different situation.

"No one would have been talking about us if we didn't get a few breaks along the line. We have to keep that in perspective and we have to make the playoffs again. They are coming off a very good year and we are going to try and focus on one pitch at a time, one inning a time and one game at a time."

After qualifying for the PIAA playoffs, Seneca Valley knocked off Erie Cathedral Prep in the first round, WPIAL champion Peters Township in the quarterfinals, State College in the semifinals and Souderton in the championship game in Altoona.

The state title game went nine innings for only the third time in PIAA history as the Raiders claimed their second state title with a 9-1 win. The other state title came in 1995 while Semega was an assistant.

"The biggest question mark this season is how we handle having a target on our backs and how they approach every game and their focus," Semega said.

"We haven't achieved anything yet and we are trying not to rely on what we did last year. Their focus is going to be something that I will be looking at day in and day out to make sure we are not just going through the motions but with this group I don't see that happening."

The Raiders return their starting infield, one outfielder, three top pitchers and their starting designated hitter.

The infield of first basemen Dan Jergel, second basemen Shaine Patsilevas, shortstop Kenny Walrond, third basemen Tyler Bream and catcher Ryan Turner all return as seniors in a fully intact infield. Senior left fielder Phil Double will once again start in the outfield for the Raiders.

The group of pitchers Seneca Valley brings back might have them most excited tough. Seniors Cory Mazzoni, Kyle Helisek and Mike Eonta will be back on the mound this season. Senior Andrew Fornadel returns as designated hitter.

Mazzoni, Helisek and Bream have already signed with colleges for the upcoming school year. Many more Raiders are still expected to sign with colleges to continue their baseball careers.

Mazzoni has signed with North Carolina State while Helisek will attend Villanova and Bream, son of former Pirate Sid Bream, will attend Liberty.

Mazzoni, a right-hander, dominated on the mound last season going 11-0 with 96 strikeouts in 78 innings with a 1.17 ERA. The Raiders can always go to their lefty, Helisek, who went 7-0 last season and pitched 51 innings.

"We always have team goals that we want to reach, short term and long term," Semega said.

"I think to have a successful season we have to go through each and every game and play hard and give our team an opportunity to win in the seventh inning."

A good indication of the depth Seneca Valley has is the fourth player to have signed with a college, Eric Aschley. He did not even start last year but signed with Mercyhurst College. He only pitched 3¹/₃ innings last year but made a name for himself with the Seneca Valley Palomino team last summer.