The Lakeland Regional High School baseball team has officially wrapped up their 2023 season, one that brought plenty of highs and lows, but also one provided a great glimpse into what the future of the team will look like.

While the season unfortunately came to an end at the hands of Ramsey in round two of the section one, group two NJSIAA state sectional tournament, the team should be very pleased with their progress and very optimistic about the future. One of the biggest reasons for optimism is the return of every single starter from this season. Lakeland trotted out a very young roster which led to some growing pains at times, but was definitely crucial in the development for the current and future seasons. “I feel like we accomplished a lot this season, but the most important thing we took away from it was the chemistry developed among one another for next season and beyond.” explained junior Matthew Nicholson in an interview with Lancer Ledger staff.

On the field this season, the Lancers accomplished a ton with an 18-8 record and a conference championship title to their name. They qualified for the state tournament as the number four seed and came away from their first round matchup with Parsippany-Hills with a 4-3 victory. “The team came together when it mattered most in the biggest game of our season, and we were able to come away with a huge win.” said senior Jeffrey LaCouture.

The Lancers will see the departure of just two seniors this season with LaCouture and Joseph Grubowski, which will definitely help the team transition far quicker than many other teams who will lose large senior classes.

The Lancers came away from this season with quite a lot to be proud of on the field and should be even more optimistic about next season and its potential. Some of the key returning players for the team include: juniors Brian Hoffmann, Matthew Nicholson, Xavier Diaz, Kenny Manning, Rowan Conway, Tyler Lynn and Anthony DeGiglio as well as sophomores Peter Hammerle, Brennan Stocker and Anthony Nyhuis and freshmen Mickey Gilligan, Tyler Harris and Anthony Iasiello.

The sky’s the limit for the future of this team, and they will look to improve further on what was overall a very successful season this year.