There's a baseball adage that says a team must be strong "up the middle" to be successful.

If that's the case, look for Peters Township to put up a serious defense of the WPIAL Class AAAA championship it won last spring.

The Indians have an experienced group returning in several key positions, although coach Joe Maize will be doing some experimenting in the early part of the season to solidify some corner positions.

He may have some answers as the Indians return from a trip to South Carolina this week.

Defensively, the middle of the field for Peters Township is occupied by four three-year starting seniors who have been playing together even longer than that. Center fielder Mike DiVella, second basemen Pete Ross, shortstop Jim Rider and catcher/pitcher Jordan Jankowski, a Miami (Ohio) recruit, all return. Senior Pat Gallagher will start in right field.

There is serious competition, however, for starting spots at third base, first base and in left field with three and four players vying for playing time at each of those positions.

Earning a spot before section play starts next week is critical, especially in difficult Section 3-AAAA where a platoon situation is not ideal.

With last year's third basemen, Aaron Maize, having graduated, there is a critical hole to fill at the hot corner. Ryan McLaughlin, Jordan Murman, Jimmy Sams and A.J. Metz are all in the picture. Sams could also be the catcher when Jankowski is pitching.

"Third base is probably the biggest question mark we have right now, but we have a lot of kids battling and a lot of questions are going to be answered on the trip down south," Maize said.

Senior Nick Merich will get the call at first base but he is also a critical part of the pitching staff. Austin Hancock and Andrew Gavlick are battling to be the replacement when he pitches.

The Indians' pitching staff looks to be the key to retaining their WPIAL title. Merich will be back on the mound and senior James Stratico is awaiting word from his doctor before he can start throwing off the mound again. He had some tenderness in his arm from last summer.

"Our coaching staff has discussed that the only way we can be competitive in that section is to have more of a pitching staff rather than one or two guys," Maize said.

"In our section we play each team three times and we are going Monday, Wednesday, Friday and then you add the spring weather and you might get backed up and play four or five days in a row and you can't just rely on two kids."

Last season, the weather held up and the Indians were able to use Merich as a starter and bring Jankowski in as a closer to pitch one or two innings.

Maize expects the pitching staff's depth to come from a group of four who pitched junior varsity last season. For the first time in a while, the Indians might have the luxury of a few left-handers as Hancock and Gavlick will compete for spots in the rotation. McLaughlin and juniors Steve Miller and A.J. Metz could also be part of the rotation.

"With that many pitchers, we are hoping we can establish a staff," Maize said.

"Stratico and Merich were there last year and [Jankowski] was a starter for the first half of the season. We want to protect his arm, but there will be times during the season when we can put him in as the starter. I don't want him to throw six or seven innings, however, and then put him behind the plate the next day."

Last season, Peters Township went 21-5, winning the WPIAL title but losing to Seneca Valley in the PIAA quarterfinals.

"We addressed dealing with expectations this season as soon as we lost last year," Maize said. "The first thing we mentioned to the underclassmen is starting last summer they were going to have targets on their backs and what we accomplished this past year will mean nothing.

"We have continued to address it during conditioning and tryouts. If they think they are going to be successful in this section because of what they did last year, they'll probably miss the playoffs. That's how much respect we have for the teams in our section."