If Doug Periard was a gardener instead of the Suttons Bay baseball coach, he would call this year’s crop of players a nice blend of youth and experience.

But he’ll be the first to admit they are a little on the green side and will need some time to ripen as the season plays out.

“We have three seniors and we have three returning starters who are underclassmen,” he said.

“But we also have some freshmen starting in some key positions. So it will be interesting to see how everything comes together.”

Periard has a solid track record for putting together solid Suttons Bay baseball teams. So he knows the challenge ahead of him.

He has a pitching staff that will center around the arms of Josh Feickert, Anthony Stewart, Brian Belanger and Shane Kaufman.

When they aren’t pitching, all four will play infield positions, with Stewart anchoring third base. Kaufman is half of the Norsemen’s freshmen Keystone Combination. Danny Holmes will play second base.

Suttons Bay will look to Jeff Ruthkowski and Chris Mann to provide experience in the outfield, along with Ryan Gardner.

“I look for Kingsley and Frankfort to be the conference favorites,” said Periard, whose team was 11-15 a year ago. “Kingsley has a lot of quality players and Frankfort has a lot of good, young players. They’ll both be tough.”

Suttons Bay is 0-2 this season after dropping a non-conference doubleheader to Class A Traverse City West last week. The Norsemen are off on spring break this week, but return to action next Wednesday at Benzie Central.