The Everett Trojans baseball team is ranked sixth place in the most recent NWAACC Horizon Air Coaches Poll after winning four of their last five games, including two against division rival Edmonds Community College.

The Trojans then lost their next two games going 2-2 in the four game series against Edmonds, who won the NWAACC championship last season.

The series marked the first league games of the year for the Trojans who posted an impressive preseason record of 14-5, with three of those losses coming to teams currently ranked in the top eight in NWAACC.

One of those teams was Spokane who outscored the Trojans in two games by a score of 11-28.

The Trojans have since been productive especially with their hitting, outscoring every other opponent by a score of 131-89.

"Overall our hitting has been really good," hitting coach Jeff James said. "But I think our pitchers are very talented too and they have been able to keep us in a lot of games."

As a team the Trojans are in the top ten in hits [391], batting average [.299] and On-base percentage [.394].

Opposing batters have also struggled with some of the Trojan pitchers who have recorded the fourth most strikeouts out of every team in NWAACC.

"When we come out and play with confidence and we all show up ready to play we are unbeatable," pitcher Arlo Evansick said. "The only time we lose is when we beat ourselves."

Evasick along with Keith Campbell have been solid at the top of the Trojan pitching rotation this season with Evasick recording four wins along with a 2.23 earned run average, while Campbell is 3-0 with a 0.76 ERA and leads the league in strikeouts with 51.

"[Campbell] and [Evasick] have been really great for us this year," James said. "They have been giving quality outings every time they have started for us."

The Trojans have returned 12 sophomores from last season's squad who finished second in the NWAACC North Division, which includes first team infielder Cody Atkinson, first team outfielder Mike Malland and second team pitcher David Benson.

"The leadership from the older guys has allowed them to take care of business on their own," James said. "They know what they have to do to get better and they work really hard at it and they don't take days off." James added, "I think their leadership on the team has been the greatest impact."

The Trojans have also added some talented freshman to the team like Campbell and hitters like middle-infielder Pat Bliss, corner-infielder Jace Sloan and second-baseman Andrew Barrier.

Sloan leads the team in home runs and is tied for first in NWAACC with three, Barrier has a batting average of .324 and has recorded 15 runs, and Bliss has the best batting average on the team at .362.

"I came here because I heard about the talent they [Everett] had every year," Bliss said. "So far it has all lived up to the expectations of everybody for the most part."

The Trojans have a lot of games to play to try to get to the top of the North Division this season and will have to go through teams like Edmonds, defending NWAACC champion, and Skagit Valley Community College, who were ranked number two in the recent coaches poll.

"We put in the hard work all year round," Evasick said. "We are representing our school and I feel we are out there trying to make a name for our school." Evasick added, "We have everything that it takes to win it all this year."