The Old Town High baseball team narrowly missed earning an Eastern Maine Class A playoff berth last spring – just one year after struggling to a two-win season.

But with seven starters back from last year’s seven-win effort, the newly named Coyotes hope to break through into the upper echelon of the division in 2006.

“We’re trying to build each year,” said Dave Utterback, who earned Penobscot Valley Conference Class A coach of the year honors in 2005.

The Eastern Maine Class A regular season begins Wednesday, with openers including Bangor at Brewer, Old Town at Nokomis of Newport and Hampden Academy at Erskine Academy of South China.

Old Town features a veteran 1-2 pitching punch in senior Cory Estes and junior Jarrett Lukas, and a defense boosted by the return of second baseman Brian Lonko – who missed last year due to injury – to join cousin Nathan Lonko as the Coyotes’ double-play combination.

Outfielders Estes and Chris Brewer, catcher Jared Goody, first baseman Travis Shaw and Lukas at third base also should be key factors on both offense and defense.

“Our pitching depth and experience should be two keys for us, and our defense should be strong,” said Utterback.

Old Town will be the most experienced team among the five PVC programs competing for the first time this spring as part of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A North, but Bangor, Brewer and Hampden also figure to be solid despite suffering considerable graduation losses.

Bangor, which reached the regional semifinals last spring before falling at eventual state champion Oxford Hills of South Paris, graduated 12 seniors, but has considerable depth in its program to go with some strong returning talent led by senior first baseman Scott Hackett and junior catcher Gordon Webb. Infielders Ben Estabrook and Ryan Jones and outfielder Tom Crews also gained considerable experience last year for coach Jeff Fahey’s Rams, while right-handers Jim Cox and Alex Gallant figure to anchor the pitching staff.

Brewer also returns a relatively young team, its losses from last year including third baseman Kevin McAvoy, now starring as a freshman at the University of Maine. But coach David Morris is not without considerable talent, led by starting pitchers Corey Cushing and Evan Economy and also including designated hitter Brandon Hardy, first baseman Brad Brown, shortstop Ricky Adams and catchers Tim Bush, Mike Kotredes and Mitch Peasley.

Hampden Academy graduates seven key players, a contingent led by right-handers Pat Moran and Chris Pease, now pitching on the collegiate level at the University of Maine and Husson College, respectively. The Broncos do return one of the region’s top players in Ian Lee, who will team with fellow veterans Evan Farley, Chris Morris, Joel Neill and Danny Maclean to provide leadership for coach David Shapiro’s club.

Nokomis went winless in 2005, but second-year coach L.D. Moore continues his rebuilding process, with 30 players competing at the varsity or junior varsity level.

Ten seniors lead the Warriors’ varsity roster, among them pitcher-second baseman Corey Harding, pitcher-outfielder Ryan Creighton, pitcher-first baseman Josh White and catcher-relief pitcher Brendan Donaldson.

“One big general goal we have is to go out every day, be competitive and play tough for seven innings,” Moore said.