Strong pitching has been a luxury for the Roseburg High School baseball team through the past few seasons.

Highlighting the list of pitching aces from the past are hurlers like Jace Stoffal and Austin Anderson, both now pitching at the University of Oregon, and Dominic Tatone, who’s having success in his first year at Umpqua Community College.

The Indians’ pitching rotation in 2023 once again won’t be lacking in top end talent.

Roseburg’s Evan Corbin and Austin Takahashi were honored as the top pitcher in the conference in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and the seniors are expected to take control on the mound again this spring.

“(Evan) is going to be a big part of us on the mound and has been the past couple of seasons,” Roseburg coach Troy Thompson said. “And Austin is going to be on the mound for us a bunch and have some big innings for us.”

Fans got a taste of what might be in store for Roseburg during the season opener on Tuesday. Corbin pitched a complete game and struck out 10 batters in a 6-2 win over West Salem at Bill Gray Legion Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field.

“It was nice to see Evan on the mound again and have command of the zone, which I thought he did very well all day,” Thompson said.

Corbin allowed just one walk through seven innings, which Thompson pointed to as proof of the right-hander’s accuracy.

“He battled through some adversity there in the first inning … but after that I thought Evan was very good, very efficient and did a good job today,” the coach said.

The Titans struck first with a run in the first inning. Tyler Lockhart led off with a single and scored on a one-out single by Tyler Rock.

Roseburg capitalized on an erratic start by West Salem’s Chase Garland. The sophomore walked three and hit three batters, allowing Roseburg to take a 5-1 advantage.

West Salem scored again in the foruth inning, but failed to get a runner in scoring position the rest of the game.

Five players finished with a hit for the Indians, including newcomers Jayce Wilder and Hunter Fullerton, who were making their first starts at the varsity level.

Wilder and Fullerton are a part of a group of seniors that played on the junior varsity team last season, when Roseburg was loaded with another large senior class.

With the class of 2022 now graduated, a new crop of seniors get a chance to make their mark on the program.

“I haven’t had a first varsity game in a while. So that was pretty fun. It was a cool experience,” said first baseman James Coleman, who has been a multi-year starter on the Roseburg football team.

“We’re excited to see them on this field,” Thompson said about the first-year seniors. “We’ve seen them through our program the last several years, but it’s nice to get them up here at the varsity level and get them some opportunities to succeed.”

Coleman, Fullerton, Wilder and others will be asked to fill gaps left by last year’s graduating class, but there’s still plenty of proven commodities for Roseburg defensively.

Takahashi has been a staple on the left side of the infield — mostly at third base — when he isn’t on the mound, but will anchor the defense at shortstop this year.

Jordan White has time at third base, Parker Burke was behind the plate a number of games last year, Corbin spent time at first base when he wasn’t pitching and Eli Jacobs gained experience in the outfield and will man center field this season.

“I think we’re really good defensively,” Corbin said.

Pitching and defense are critical to success, but hitting is an equally important piece of the puzzle and might be one of Roseburg’s bigger uncertainties early on.

Takahashi is the only returning player to average more than one at-bat per game last season. He finished with a .346 batting average, with 14 RBIs and nine extra base hits.

White, Burke and Corbin each saw between 17-25 at bats during their junior seasons.

“Getting (the inexperienced players) comfortable at this level and having the confidence to know they can achieve at this level” is an important goal early in the season, Thompson said. “It was nice to see a couple of our first-year guys coming up with some big plays (against West Salem).”

Despite having a number of rookies among their ranks, this senior-heavy group is tight-knit. They’ve played sports together since elementary school.

“My biggest excitement is this group of guys we have. A lot of seniors. A lot of returners. I feel good about our season,” Takahashi said.

“We’re all really close to each other. We try to do as much as we can outside the field and then get that bond tighter so when we’re on the field it translates into wins,” Corbin added.

Roseburg will try to secure its second win of the season on Thursday with a nonconference home game against Central Catholic. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

W. Salem;100;100;0;—;2;5;2

Roseburg;500;001;x;—;6;5;1

Garland, Castranova (2) and Howard; Corbin and Burke. W — Corbin (1-0). L — Garland (0-1).