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North Andover Baseball Preview

2007 record: 12-8, lost in Division 2 North first round

Returning starters (5): Brent Ringland, Sr., SS; Ryan Sifferlen, Jr., CF; Brian Meikle, Sr., P; Taylor Livingston, Sr., C; Gary Lunetta, Sr., 1B

Returning lettermen: Josh Breeden, Sr., LF

Newcomers: Stephen Peavey, Sr., IF; Dan Perry, Sr., OF; Jake Hajjar, Sr., DH; Billy Della Rocca, Sr., DH/3B; Jeff Cupka, Sr., P; Juan Arezes, Jr., RF; Nick Blanks, Jr., 2B; Aaron Brunette, Jr., P; Mike Levy, Jr., C; Connor Walsh, Soph., 3B; James Spring, Jr., P; Alex Parkes, Jr., 1B/DH

Candidates in all grades: 50

Captains: Brian Meikle, Taylor Livingston

Returning leaders: Taylor Livingston, .409 avg.; Ryan Sifferlen, .346 avg., 12 runs, 10 RBIs; Gary Lunetta, .311 avg., 11 runs; Brent Ringland, .298 avg.; Brian Meikle, 4-1, 3.50 ERA; Aaron Brunette, 1-1, 1.98 ERA.

Returning honorees: None

Assistants: Dino Martino; Rich Angelo (pitching coach); Scott Young (JV); Brian Sheehy (Frosh.), Chris Sheehy (Frosh. assistant)

Opener: April 6 hosting Notre Dame (Lawrence), 1 p.m.

Odds and ends: North Andover ended a two-year state tourney drought but still hasn't won in the postseason since 2001. ... Brian Meikle's only loss  last year came in relief on an error. ... Assistant coach Mike Laorenza's job commitments forced him to leave the squad. Rich Angelo moves up into Laorenza's spot after coaching the freshman last year. ... Hired to teach at North Andover, Brian Sheehy takes over the freshmen after doing the same for Greater Lawrence Tech.

Coach Todd Dulin (2nd year, 12-8): "I think we're going to hit this year. Taylor Livingston hit close to .500 last year since he took over at catcher and is a great team leader. Gary Lunetta had the highest average on his American Legion team and Ryan Sifferlen is a great athlete who has gotten stronger. Brian Meikle will face all the tough teams and is always showing the younger pitchers how to prepare. Last year, we had a couple of base running issues that cost us games and messed up our seeding. It's my fault for that because we didn't work on it as much as we needed to but we have this year. Our goal is to create a program that's like our wrestling program. They're always competing for state championships and it's been like that for as long as I can remember."