King’s Fork High School’s baseball team has followed up an 0-4 start to the season with a 3-2 stretch that has continued to show what the team is capable of.

“We want to have a lot of success and obviously win baseball games, but our goal this year is really just to develop guys,” said Robert Hedrick, the new coach of the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs lost five players from last year’s team due to graduation, including Cal Bailey, Duke Santora, Bryce Jones, Steffen Bruce and Andre Gerard.

But Hedrick noted, “For the most part, we returned a lot of guys.”

The team remains relatively young, with only three seniors this season. There are also seven juniors and five sophomores.

“We’re not one of those flashy teams,” Hedrick said, describing the character of his squad. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that are gamers that get it done.”

The coach acknowledged the formidable challenge posed by fellow Conference 17 member and perennial district powerhouse Great Bridge High School, but he said he saw different opportunities elsewhere in the conference.

As for Lake Taylor High School and Woodrow Wilson High School, “I feel like we’re very capable of beating teams like that,” Hedrick said.

“I really feel overall if we play to our potential, we could be something to reckon with,” Hedrick said. “It’s all in how bad these kids want it.”

Among the players on the team with leadership potential are juniors Tristen DeGuzman and Blake Sargent, senior Josh Bush, and junior Tim Gromkoski.

Some have been standouts for King’s Fork during the first nine games of the season.

The Bulldogs played some Southeastern District heavyweights in their first few games and also faced one in their most recent contest in the form of Grassfield High School.

King’s Fork fell 8-1 to the host Grizzlies on Friday, but the wave of positive momentum has still been strong.

On April 5, the Bulldogs defeated host Lakeland High School 15-1.

“We did really well,” Hedrick said, adding that his players were walked a lot.

Sargent pitched all five innings of play, throwing six strikeouts, scattering two hits and allowing two walks.

“For the most part, he was very consistent in the strike zone,” Hedrick said.

The Bulldogs generated 10 hits of their own and were led offensively by sophomore Chris Allen, who went 2-for-3, with a bases-clearing double and five runs batted in.

“We were tickled to death,” Hedrick said. “He’s one of our younger guys that has a lot of potential.”

The victory came on the heels of a 2-1 showing by King’s Fork in its third annual spring break baseball tournament.

On March 30, the Bulldogs defeated Churchland High School 2-1 in nine innings, benefiting from good pitching by Sargent for seven innings.

“Mason Brown came in and finished it off for us,” Hedrick said of his sophomore pitcher. “He’ll be one of our bullpen guys and coming in and hopefully closing out some games for us.”

In a second game on the same day, King’s Fork lost 7-3 to Southampton High School. Despite the loss, Sargent contributed an approximately 370-foot home run in the fourth inning.

Tristen DeGuzman starred in a 3-2 victory over Oscar Smith High School on March 31 that went to an eighth inning.

“He was the man of the hour of that game because he was our starter on the mound, and he went all eight innings — pitched a phenomenal game,” Hedrick said

Throwing seven strikeouts and allowing only two hits, he also hit a lead-off triple in the eighth that helped lead to the win.

Hedrick, a 2004 Lakeland High School graduate, will be using the knowledge gleaned as a Cavalier, as a star for California University of Pennsylvania and as a professional player in Frontier League.

King’s Fork (3-6) hosts Oscar Smith High School on Friday.