An upcoming slate of section games, starting tomorrow against Ambridge will tell the tale of the season for the Mars Area baseball team that found itself in a three-way tie for third place with New Castle and Knoch on Thursday.

"These games will dictate our season," said Mars coach Andy Bednar.

"It's a huge week and we have to take it one game at a time. We have to get quality pitching and we have to shore up our defense. It has been shaky the last couple of games and when you play good teams in our section, you can't afford to give them extra outs."

The three-way tie that Mars (6-8, 3-4) found itself in is not a bad situation considering the Planets dug themselves an early hole in section play, going 1-3.

The schedule-makers did no favors for Mars, giving it Hampton, New Castle and Blackhawk in a span of four days early in section play.

"The way the schedule worked out, we had three quality teams right in a row and it made it tough on our pitching," Bednar said. "We were able to bounce back the next week and get right in the thick of things in our section."

Sophomore Andrew Rush is one of four sophomores who have earned starting spots on this year's team. Rush is leading the team in hitting with a .420 average. The other starting sophomores are third basemen D.J. Delucia and outfielders Ryan McKenzie and Luke Gruber.

Junior Chris Herold and senior Ryan Schroth are both batting .400. Another senior, Lee Lawver, is batting .370. Schroth is the starting shortstop and one of the pitchers on the staff along with Lawver.

Pitching this year figured to be a big question area for Mars after graduating its top two starters from last season, D.J. Cannon and Chip Hasek. The run totals allowed have indeed increased for the Planets. They have already been involved in nine double-digit run games including an 11-10 loss to Pine-Richland, a 13-7 win over Ambridge and a 20-12 loss to Chartiers Valley.

"We are hitting a little more than we did last year," Bednar said. "We had two really good pitchers in D.J. and Chip and we really relied on those guys to carry us through the season. The games this year are more of the high-scoring type."

Schroth stepped up on the mound for Mars throwing a good game against Knoch in a critical 6-4 win two weeks ago. Lawver picked up the win against Highlands the game before that to end the Planets' three-game slide. Junior pitcher Dan Brent had to go up against the top two teams in the section, in Hampton and Blackhawk. He took both teams into the sixth inning only allowing three runs in losing efforts.

A new starter this year behind the plate is senior Justin Vancheri. He is batting .300 from the nine spot in the lineup. Herold and Schroth along with center fielder Drew Glavin are returning starters from last season. The Planets went 5-7 in the section last year to finish fifth.

Glavin injured his knee last week and will be out for about two weeks. He will be replaced in the lineup by senior outfielder and leadoff hitter Anthony Ciafre, who is returning from an injury himself. He was the starting center fielder last year and started the season there before a high ankle sprain on the team's trip to South Carolina forced him out the lineup. He has gotten a few at bats in the past few games but will make his defensive return to the lineup tomorrow.