Pioneer Valley League play starts this week for baseball and Lincoln coach Rick Foster likes what he has on his club.

“Our expectations are always high,” Foster said. “We lost four guys from last year so we have a good returning nucleus. And two of our best pitchers from last year are back this year.”

Those pitchers are senior right-hander Matt Holt and senior left-hander Matt Paul. Foster plans to go with these guys as starters in the league games with a bullpen that includes sophomores Sean Fox and Marcus Maldonado and junior Leland Smith backing them up.

“Our pitching will be fine, we have about seven pitchers,” Foster said. “Matt (Paul) is definitely a better pitcher (than he was last year). His fastball has picked up two to five miles per hour and he has improved dramatically. He’s gotten a little taller (5-foot-11) and gives us a good lefty. He brings leadership to.”

Napa Junior College has shown an interest in having Paul pitch for them in college.

Holt, who Foster calls ‘the Moose’, is a power pitcher.

“He throws the ball hard and he’s kind of a quiet leader,” Foster said. “He won’t say much but he’s the type of guy that says ‘follow what I do.’ If we can work on his hitting he’ll explode.”

Holt and Paul are among five seniors on the roster. The others are Tyler Freymond (starting shortstop), Anthony Luevano (starting leftfielder) and Brent Marrell (starting catcher).

“We pulled (the seniors) aside and asked them to step up as far as leaders just the other day,” Foster said. “We felt maybe we were lagging a little bit but we got such a positive response out of those guys and you just couldn’t ask for a better response.”

The other players that Foster said would start in the PVL opener were Dusty Foster (centerfield), Maldonado (rightfield), Smith (second base) and Fox (third base). Either Holt or Paul will be the first baseman, depending on who is pitching.

Lincoln opens PVL play today against Mesa Verde and will play a league game at El Dorado at 4 p.m. Friday.

The Zebras will then play two non-league games (against Rio Linda and Sutter) before playing another PVL game (at Bear River at 4 p.m. on March 20).

Lincoln has already had three rainouts and Foster isn’t sure whether the games will be made up because the schedule is tight.

Lincoln lost 11-5 at Center on Friday and then beat visiting Valley Christian 10-8 on Tuesday.

Foster and Luevano both went 3-for-3 against Valley Christian while Marrell impressed Rick Foster with his work behind the plate. Fox led the Lincoln offense (2-3) against Center.

“We’re going to lean on all nine guys (offensively) – all our guys hit pretty well,” Foster said. “We have to execute. We are not going to have the guy that can hit the long ball so we have to play small ball like we did last year. The kids were really aggressive against Valley Christian and it paid off.”

Foster is searching for a leadoff hitter to replace the graduated Rex Seivers (batted .419 last season).

“Right now Maldonado is there but he has to know the strike zone a little better,” Foster said. “He likes to swing the bat but we’d like to see him take a few more walks because he’s lightning fast.”