Fuquay-Varina baseball coach, Milton Senter likes what he sees when his team takes the field this spring. The Bengals enter this week with a 4-0 overall record and two Tri-9 conference wins already.

Fuquay downed Panther Creek, 6-4, in the season opener on March 5 and beat Cary High last Monday, 6-3.

“I’ve been happy,” Senter said. “We’ve been swinging the bats a lot better than last year. We’ve been more aggressive and we’ve been putting the ball in play more authoritatively than we did last year. And we’ve actually fielded the ball better. We’ve given ourselves a bit more margin for error. Last year, we had no margin for error. If we got down three runs, the game was over.”

The Bengals are hoping to rebound from a tough season, by their standards, in 2009. Despite finishing in fifth place with a 12-14 record, Fuquay found its way into the state playoffs and advanced to the second round. The Bengals are looking for more in 2010, though.

Senter said they would need solid hitting from seniors Aaron Olive and Phillip Cotton in the three and four spots. He said those two and others have been delivering already this spring. The Bengals have banged out 35 hits to generate 32 runs in four games.

Following his team’s 9-4 win over West Johnston last Wednesday, Senter said he was confident in his pitching staff which includes 2009 all-conference right-hander, Travis Long, just a junior.

“I’m really happy with our pitching staff. We’ve had to kind of piece it together a little bit, because Austin Yarborough, our number-two pitcher has been out with a sprained ankle. He’s not pitched at all yet. So Travis and Phillip (Cotten) and Ryan Weaver pitched against Cary the other night. The other guys have done well, too. Devin Kelly pitched today. Craig Mitchell pitched some on Monday for us. Garrett Suggs has done a good job two or three times when we’ve called on Garrett to pitch. They’ve all done well.”

Underclassman, Kyle Boraski notched the win for Fuquay against West Johnston.

“I don’t know where we’re going to stack up, but I think we’re going to be competitive,” Senter said of the Tri-9 race. “Obviously Holly Springs and Green Hope and Middle Creek and Athens Drive have a lot of players returning. Our team would be very young compared to those teams. But I like our team right now and we’re gaining confidence.”

This will be a challenging week for Fuquay. The Bengals were scheduled to host Holly Springs on Tuesday night after press time. Green Hope visits on Friday.

“We’re taking our chances. We’re going after it,” Senter said. “We’ve worked hard. We’re continuing to work hard, and we’re going to play hard no matter what happens. I like the way this group approaches the game.”