FARMINGTON, Minn. -- With a three-year starter behind the plate and much of the pitching rotation back from a school-record 24-win season, Farmington baseball hopes to reach the same heights as last spring when they won the conference and went to state.

Senior Joe Baldus looks forward to toeing the rubber, "That first start on the mound, throwing to my catcher Marshall Gordon, because he's a wall back there, good worker. And I think we're going to have a fast outfield and a really good infield."

He was slotted into the closer role last year, before an opening came up to be a starter, "I actually threw a no-hitter in my first game. The older guys last year helped me out a lot. They helped me get the experience I needed."

Baldus went 5-1 with a .54 ERA in 2024 according to the Minnesota baseball hub through Star Tribune.

He has added a change-up to his slider that carried him through the no-hitter and a fastball, "Being a starter is way better. I like to get myself ready before a game…I like warming up, get my mind ready, myself ready to throw strikes in the game and let my defense work."

Gordon, a senior who's committed to Minnesota State University-Mankato, brings experience behind the plate and appreciates being a leader, "Learning from a lot of older guys in the past. Putting on some weight helped a lot in both the catching side and hitting side. And the mentality. You got to want to be back there. You want to help your team out, block every ball. Leading (the) team."

He's thrilled to work with a veteran pitching staff, "We've got two of our best guys from last year coming back. You don't have to throw the hardest. They throw strikes. Just get outs. We're going to have the defense to back that up."

Senior hurler Brandon Lund (6-1, 1.73 ERA in '24) broke into the varsity as a sophomore and says the team has a deep rotation, just like last year, "Our pitching is great. I think we got the best pitching in the conference. We're up there in the state. We got a lot of guys who throw strikes. It's high-level pitching for us. Got a lot of good breaking balls. Got a lot of good command."

Junior Brodie Gibart went 3-0. The Tigers went 24-5 overall and 16-2 in the South Suburban Conference.

Head coach Jon Graff has faith, "I think we're still set up pretty good. We return three of our top four pitchers. We got a deep junior class. We got good underclassmen. We got senior leadership. I like where we're at to have a chance to defend our conference and section titles. It'll be a challenge because we do lose a lot, but the tank's full."

He said the whole infield graduated along with some outfielders. But they did their best last season to get non-seniors time when possible.

Gordon looks forward to working with the new infield, "Just knowing situations, like what we want to do…This year I think they're going to take that step, learning stuff from the older guys from past years (and) from our coaches."

Lund, who looks to play some middle infield, says, "Confidence is key. That's all it is. All our middle infielders, they know how to field. They're good baseball players."

Graff believes the offense will be improved, "I think we're going to have more pop than last year. But we don't have a lot of experience at the varsity level. I think that will be the biggest adjustment. Being able to adjust to the faster pitchers who have more command, a second or third pitch."

He believes they will have speed on the basepaths.

Lund adds, "I think we got a lot of guys who can hit. Lot of juice coming up."

Graff expects Prior Lake and Shakopee to push the Tigers in the South Suburban Conference. In Section 1AAAA, he says, "There's a lot of teams that graduated a lot of guys. And I take a look at what we have. We graduated a lot, but we've got talent coming up, filling in. I'd like to think we're still the section favorite."

The Tigers had to fight their way back through the elimination bracket in the section tournament in 2024. Lund said it was quite a ride, "It was a great time. It's just a memory that you're going to remember forever. We lose a game, and we were able to bounce back and win (five) in a row and just kind of own the section almost."

FHS lost their quarterfinal game and responded with five straight wins, including back-to-back, one-run wins over New Prague to capture their third title in the last four years. The Tigers went 0-2 at state. Several players from that team are on college teams this spring.

Lakeville North and South, three Rochester schools, and Owatonna fill out the section.

This season is scheduled to start on Thursday, April 3 with New Prague coming to town. Farmington follows with three straight on the road, at Rochester Mayo (Friday, April 4 at 5 pm), at Lakeville North (Monday, April 7), and at Eastview (Wednesday, April 9). 

Most SSC games start at 4:30 pm but the Tigers play night games at Lakeville South on Thursday, May 8 and on Thursday, May 15 at Shakopee, each at 7 pm.