ARLINGTON — Arlington hasn’t been the easiest place to be a baseball fan — or player — in recent years.

The team got off to a 2-1 league record early last season, but lost 11 of their last 13 games and struggled at the 3A district tournament. The program hasn’t had a state appearance in 15 years.

An assistant for the Arlington program the last three years, coach Erik Heinz takes over the program this season hoping to change that record.

Heinz has weapons at his disposal, with 10 seniors on the roster and the familiarity of coaching them. Many of them played varsity last year.

“Right now, what I’m looking for out of these seniors is a lot of senior leadership. They’re great kids,” he said. “They haven’t experienced a lot of success on the baseball field, which I’m hoping to change. We’re working on being mentally tough in those situations, to battle. We’re hoping to get a mental edge.”

Pitching should be a strong point, with all three of Heinz’s varsity starters back again this year. Heinz considers senior Kyle Ayres one of the team’s top pitchers, while junior Justin Surber was considered the team No. 2 last year as a sophomore. Senior Jeff Huge also has experience starting games on varsity. Any number of seniors might contribute as relief pitchers for the team, many of them veterans of the Arlington 76ers squad that played summer league together after last season: Danny Huleatt, Chris Wendland and Thane Street.

Street caught a fair number of games for Arlington last year, but may share that job with senior Jon Van Eyk, an all-league player at first base last year and a solid hitter for the team. Including junior Dustin Ward, who caught a number of innings for Surber last year, that leaves Arlington with three guys who can catch.

Other players returning for Arlington include senior Kekoa Riggen, who transferred into the school district last year, making an immediate impact at shortstop and clean-up batter. Tony Geist, who led off last season for Arlington, brings back speed and skill at center field.

Before coaching at Arlington, Heinz coached some select baseball, but counts a lifetime around baseball as one of his strengths. His father is WIAA Hall of Fame coach Larry Heinz, who coached 18 years at Rochester High School.

“The feeling and the feedback has been pretty positive. I’m a pretty intense guy. I like to keep guys moving around, I’m a big teacher of the fundamentals. I think little things make a big difference in this game,” he said. Heinz added, “We have a lot of guys who are very flexible and a lot of guys who can be utility players for us, who can play a lot of positions. We’ll have guys wherever we need to be the strongest team possible.”