It wasn’t the finish they had hoped for, but there were plenty of positives to take from the 2016 Warrenton baseball season.

The Warriors finished 13-16-1 against a brutal non-conference schedule, and Manager Eric Burle will need to replace seven seniors next spring.

“I thought we finished right around where we should have finished,” Burle said. “I think we probably played the toughest schedule in our conference.”

The Warrenton nonconference schedule featured a number of marquee games, including St. Dominic and Eureka.

For Burle, however, there is no other way to do it.

“Record-wise, I’m perfectly pleased with it because I think we could have dumbed-down our schedule and had a great record if we wanted to do that,” he said. “But being ready is important because we play in a tough district. The top five in our district are pretty balanced.”

The Warriors will need to replace over half of their starting lineup, including outfielder and starting pitcher Hunter Capstick.

Capstick hit .359 with nine doubles, and posted a 2.77 earned-run average on the mound in a team-high 60.7 innings.

“Hunter Capstick came up huge for us pitching-wise,” Burle said. “He really helped us out.”

Burle expects Capstick’s absence to be felt in the lineup, but he hopes his void can be filled on the mound.

“We have a lot of kids who can pitch, and if they progress then we can be solid,” he said.”

Junior starter Dalton Owenby expects to lead the pitching staff next season after starting 10 games this spring.

He finished with a 4.12 ERA in 51 innings.

Offensively, Burle hopes his underclassmen have big off-seasons.

Sophomore first baseman and designated hitter Chris Vogt led the Warriors with a .412 average in 40 plate appearances.

“We knew Alex took good approaches at the plate, and we needed a kid like that to give us a little more offense in the second half,” Burle said. “He’s got to do some things to be able to play in the field for us because he ended up being our D.H. and doing fairly well.”

Infielder Garrison Hibbs, the only freshman on the team, finished the season with a .289 average.

“He’s not an easy out,” Burle said. “He puts the ball in play and isn’t going to strike out a lot. Alex and Garrison were big for us this year because they both take really good approaches at the plate.”

Burle said there was no denying the impact his seniors had on the Warrenton program, but he hopes players like Vogt and Hibbs can ease the transition in 2017.

“We’ve got some good young players that will hopefully have good offseasons,” he said. “We’re definitely going to miss kids like Dallas, Capstick and Russell. We’re losing some veterans and some experience, but it’s also kind of exciting to start anew a little bit. It might be tough for some of the kids to adjust, but I think it will be a good thing.”