After three straight trips to the state tournament the Logan High School baseball team was upended 3-2 by Herbert Hoover in last year’s Class AA regional championship game, leaving the Wildcats short of the Big Dance.

With several top returning players back for the Wildcats this season, a top-notch pitching staff and a talented transfer, Logan might be headed back to Charleston this spring.

The season was scheduled to begin for the Wildcats on Monday at Class AAA Cabell Midland.

Despite falling short of the state tournament last year, the Wildcats had a memorable season, finishing 29-7. Logan rallied from a one-game deficit in the Class AA sectional tournament at Chapmanville to beat the homestanding Tigers 10-1 and 7-4 to claim the Double-A sectional title for the fifth straight season and the eighth overall dating back to Logan’s Triple-A days.

Logan followed up last year’s sectional championship with a 4-3 victory at Wayne in the regionals before falling to the Huskies.

At season’s end, senior shortstop Jordan Moore was voted captain of the Class AA all-state team. Moore hit .417 with five home runs, 38 RBI, 11 doubles and 25 stolen bases.

Moore has graduated, however, along with second-team all-state pitcher/first baseman Cory Nichols (.384, one homer, 22 RBI and 11 doubles, 5-3 pitching with 2.92 ERA in 36 innings). Also gone is departed senior second baseman Billy Tomblin.

Those shoes will be tough to fill, especially Moore’s.

However, Logan has plenty of talent not only to have another successful season but to make it back to the state tournament.

It’s been the decade of the Wildcats as head coach Roger Gertz has led Logan to three state championships