For the first time in his three-year tenure, Bastrop baseball coach Mark Williams has the deepest pitching staff he’s ever had.

Bastrop boasts what is arguably the best collective pitching staff in District 16-4A with five pitchers throwing in the 80s.

“We are deep in our pitching staff,” Williams said. “It should be an advantage for us because a lot of teams lost their pitching staff.”

Bastrop’s staff consists of 6-foot-5 sophomore Cameron Williams, 6-1 senior Jared Van de Hoef, 5-10 junior Alec Kana, 5-10 junior Devin Weiss and 6-1 senior Dillon Becker.

All five throw from the low-to-upper 80 miles per hour range and are battling for a spot on the rotation.

Becker and Williams have the best arms, with fastballs clocked in the upper 80s, according to Mark Williams.

Van de Hoef and Kana have fastballs clocked in the mid-80s and newcomer Weiss is throwing in the lower 80s.

The disadvantage to Bastrop’s rotation is that all five pitchers are right handed and as of Wednesday, the middle reliever and closing pitchers have yet to be determined.

“We don’t have any lefties, but we have a lot of kids with different speeds and pitches,” Mark Williams said. “If we find a middle reliever and a closer we should be OK.”

Sophomores Logan Allen and Brian Hendrix, along with junior Luke Greigo are in contention for those spots.

The key, according to Mark Williams, is keeping everyone healthy and ready for a grueling district schedule that includes three games per week.

“We are getting them in better shape,” Mark Williams said. “Good pitching will be more important this year due to our district schedule. Right now, we have three games per week through district. If any of those get rained out, we could be playing four or five games.”

The additions of Cedar Ridge and Cedar Creek moved District 16-4A from a seven-team district to nine teams.

To accommodate the extra four games, every team in the district will play three games per week on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

But pitching isn’t all Bastrop has as the Bears hope to snap a 16-year playoff drought.

Blake Zimmerman and Jake Hernandez both return after leading the Bears in hitting last season.

Zimmerman had a .352 batting average, 18 RBIs, five doubles, two stolen bases, a .478 on-base percentage and a .942 fielding percentage.

Hernandez hit .309 with 11 RBIs, two doubles, 30 stolen bases and a .505 on-base percentage.

However, all players will have to get used to a new bat. The change is equivalent to the change the NCAA made last year.

The bats use a technology to make aluminum bats act more like wood bats, thus lessening the power and shrinking the “sweet spot.”

“It will make a difference,” Mark Williams said of the new bats. “It did last year in college baseball. The number of home runs was way down.”

Bastrop hasn’t made the playoffs in baseball since 1996, but was in contention in 2007 before losing out to Bowie.

Last year, Bastrop got off to one of its best starts in the school’s history, but lost nine of its last 10 games.

Mark Williams said he believes his team has gained a lot of experience from last year’s slide.

“I think we believe we can make the postseason,” he said. “Last year we were so young.”

Bastrop opens the 2012 baseball season Feb. 20 at Wimberley. The Bears play their first home game on Feb. 28 against Manor to open District 16-4A play.