After completing one of the most successful WPIAL baseball season's of all time, West Allegheny enters the 2008 season with a new goal.

An undefeated regular season followed by a WPIAL Class AAA title, a feat accomplished only twice before in the WPIAL, was followed by a first-round exit from the PIAA playoffs last spring.

"Our ultimate goal has changed," West Allegheny coach Bryan Cornell said.

"This year we have our sights on a state championship. We don't just want to be section champs and WPIAL champs, we want to be state champs."

The Indians return PG West All-Star pitcher Zak Sinclair and he will be throwing to another returning all-star, catcher Ricky Devereaux. In all, West Allegheny returns six senior starters. Along with Sinclair and Devereaux, second basemen Mark Diskin, center fielder Tyler Savisky, shortstop Derrik Zeroski and left fielder Tim Marshall return as starters.

"We are expecting great things," Devereaux said. "We have high goals this year and that's what we are going to shoot for. We are going to be getting everyone's top pitcher, but it's been like that since midway through last year, so we have some experience from that."

Diskin led off last year for the Indians and hit .408 with 12 stolen bases. Devereaux led the team with 33 RBIs just ahead of Sinclair, the team's pitching ace and cleanup hitter who knocked in 30 runs last season. Zeroski was also the team's number two pitcher last year.

"It's huge, obviously, when you have pitching back with Zak and Derrik, it is just a great advantage," Cornell said.

"Having my one and two pitchers back is a great advantage and having those kids as leaders makes us comfortable going into the season and it gives us a great boost."

Junior outfielder Mike Visloski returns after seeing some playing time last year. Cornell expects junior Ken Cool, the younger brother of last season's designated hitter Rob Cool, to step up and contribute this year.

After playing football for the Indians, Ryan Revtai now figures to be in the mix at third base with Justin Meyers. Senior Andrew Krull returns after missing last year with a broken arm. Cornell hopes he can play at first base and help with relief pitching.

Last season West Allegheny went through the 20-game regular season with an unblemished record, capturing the Section 3-AAA title in the process. The Indians defeated Hampton in the quarterfinals, Trinity in the semifinals and beat Blackhawk, 6-3, at CONSOL Energy Park for the WPIAL Class AAA championship.

"I think the biggest question mark will be if they are overconfident and think that because they won it last year and they have a good nucleus back that it is going to be handed to them," Cornell said.

"We have a target on our back and unfortunately we play in one of the best sections in all of the WPIAL. I don't know if we will be able to repeat the success of last year. Last year we had luck and the ball bounced the right way and we stayed healthy. You have to have the kids believe in the system and have kids come up with timely hits in big situations. We had that last year and we need to be able to have that again."

In the PIAA playoffs, the Indians were held to their fewest runs of the year by Punxsutawney and their season ended with a 3-2 loss in the first round of the PIAA tournament.

"We definitely felt pretty confident going into the state playoffs but we ran into a pretty good team," Devereaux said.

"We know we have to work a little harder this year. Our main goal is to win the state championship. It's something that no team at West Allegheny has done.

"We have the same core group of players up the middle since our sophomore year and now after three years of being together, we understand things and we're becoming able to help the younger kids."