Late last season, the Cranston West baseball team started to falter, losing four straight games to end the year. The struggles carried over into the playoffs.

The Falcons lost their first two games in the double elimination region tournament – including one by a 10-0 mercy rule – sending them to their earliest postseason exit in a decade.

Since then, they also lost the core of their team, with nine contributing seniors graduating after the season. As a team that won three state championships and made seven final fours in an eight-year span before last season, the Falcons are on the short list with Bishop Hendricken as the most successful baseball teams in Division I over that time.

They’re hoping last year was an aberration. With a largely new cast of characters, West will be trying to prove that it’s a contender once again.

“It’s going to come down to how hard they’re willing to work, that will determine how far we go,” West head coach Rob Malo said. “They’ve got to have the right frame of mind day in and day out.”

The Falcons will be moving forward this season without their top pitcher from last year, Rich Reo, and first-team all-division selection Sean Hayden. They also graduated key pieces like Rob DeCosta, Joe Nicolace, Billy Clarkin, Koye Idowu and Ryan Faria.

That opens the door for the players who have been biding their time in the background. Many of them played on Cranston’s Connie Mack and Junior Legion teams last year – both of which won state championships – and they’ve been mainstays on the city’s highly-successful Babe Ruth teams, which have regularly won state championships of their own.

Now they’ll be trying to do it on the high school varsity level, which is a big jump, but not an impossible one.

“It’s not like the guys are first-year players or whatever,” Malo said. “Most of these guys have played significant roles either on JV last year – although that’s a big jump – or they played significant roles on summer league teams – Junior Legion or Connie Mack team – which both won championships. That gives them a little more experience, especially playing in bigger games.”

That classification is most true with the pitching staff. It could be the team’s biggest strength, but it’s also light on varsity experience.

The top three spots will likely be occupied by juniors Kemi Idowu and Myles Levy and senior Frank Pettinato. Idowu and Pettinato pitched for West last year, but combined for under 20 innings.

Levy is a Cranston East transfer who should make an immediate difference for the Falcons.

“He’s a welcomed addition,” Malo said of Levy.

Four other players are fighting for a spot in the rotation or to be in the bullpen. They are junior Tom Sammartino, Senior Anthony Meola, junior Rob Santos and sophomore Andrew Ciacciarelli.

“Out of those four guys, someone will fill the fourth starter or first guy out of the bullpen spot, while the other guys will be bullpen guys,” Malo said. “Or, if we need to switch guys from the starter to the bullpen and the guys are working hard, those guys will step in.”

In the field, the Falcons have a little more experience to lean on. Senior Garrett Demers returns behind the plate, and he’s been serving as the team’s clean-up hitter in pre-season scrimmages. Shortstop Anthony Crudale, who played second last season, is a returning second-team all-division player who has been batting second so far this year.

The second base position and No. 3 spot in the lineup is being occupied by sophomore Travis Collins, who saw some time as a freshman last year as a backup for both middle infield spots.

West’s leadoff hitter is senior center-fielder Chris Burrows, who was a big part of the team’s outfield a season ago.

The other outfield spots are still up for grabs. Senior Teddy Diehl, Meola and Levy are competing in left, while junior Jimmy Diehl and senior Peter Esposito are fighting for right. Senior Jeff Grover will back up Burrows in center.

“Right field last year came down to who was swinging the hot bat at that time, and left and right could be like that again this year,” Malo said. “It could come down to who is swinging the hot bat, who’s working the hardest.”

Junior Armand Vaziri should have a big role for the team as well, as he will likely see some time behind the plate and serve as a DH while hitting somewhere in the middle of the lineup.

Slotted to play first is either Idowu or Pettinato – depending on if one of them is pitching – or Ciacciarelli. Pettinato has been hitting either fifth or sixth in the preseason.

At third base, senior Brian Franco is the current starter. Senior Stephen Manfredo is also in the running, as he’s been backing up third, short and second base.

“He’ll push them to do better,” Malo said. “If anyone should falter, he’s ready to step in.”

One problem the team has had thus far is striking out at the plate. The offensive approach hasn’t been quite as sound as Malo is hoping it will be once the season really gets going. That, though, is a fixable problem.

“The problem we’ve been having early on is the strikeouts,” Malo said. “They need to take a better approach, be able to protect and see pitches with two strikes on us. We struggle with not fighting off that pitch, not making the pitcher throw us a better pitch on the next pitch.”

West has already scrimmaged North Kingstown, which it beat 5-3, and Toll Gate, which it lost to 4-3. On Monday, it played four innings of 1-1 baseball against Cranston East before weather cut the scrimmage short. The Falcons are scheduled for another scrimmage against Moses Brown on Thursday, and then an Injury Fund game against Pilgrim at Cranston Stadium on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

In those games and in practice, Malo and his staff are trying to emphasize what it takes to be a great team.

West wants to be great again.

“We’re trying to install a little different attitude this year where practice is more game-like in terms of focus and intensity,” Malo said. “Then, when we get to a game, that goes up a level, almost like a playoff atmosphere or a championship atmosphere.”

The Falcons’ first league game is Monday at Cumberland at 4 p.m.