When the Panthers’ offense and defense are clicking, Middle Park can field a pretty salty baseball team this season.

The squad is young with just a handful of juniors and seniors in the lineup, but two teams in the league have already felt the power of Middle Park’s pitching and hitting.

“We’ve played well,” coach Patrick Gallegos said of the team’s first four games. “For early season and in a short season, we’ve played very well.”

The Panthers cruised past Bruce Randolph 22-1 in their home opener on Wednesday in Granby. That was only 10 days removed from a 22-2 decision over Platte Canyon on the road to kickoff the new season.

Middle Park also faced two Class 4A teams — Falcon and George Washington — in a tournament last week. The Panthers fell in both contests, though they battled George Washington tight in an 8-7 loss. With that, the Panthers are 2-0 in Class 3A Frontier League play and 2-2 overall.

Looking at the team’s lineup, Gallegos noted that Middle Park is pretty strong on the mound this year. The MPHS hurlers might be young, but Gallegos has been very impressed by the rotation so far.

In terms of offense, the coach is looking for big things from young hitters like Forest Schofield and Corbin Solomon, and he’s expecting continued production from his upperclassmen, such as Jack Nance and Ethan Callarman.

Last year, when the season was halted by the pandemic, Panthers baseball graduated 10 seniors. Because of that, the ranks are full of sophomores this season. But even so, their youth isn’t anything that Gallegos expects to hold the team back.

“We feel like we should always compete for our league, and as a club, we want to be in the mix come playoff time, that’s where we want to be,” he said of their goals this year.

Middle Park will play again Saturday on the road vs. Clear Creek before the team comes home for a Tuesday matchup with Moffat County.