Since 1984 the Plano East baseball team has been a district champion three times.

Last year, the Panthers earned their first title in five years while tearing through District 9-5A, with an 11-3 record.

Led by the hot hitting of Clayton Farhat and Chris Slater, East averaged seven runs per game offensively. While a pitching staff consisting of guys like Michael Chase and Logan Thomas gave up only four runs per game in district play.

Though ten pitchers fill out the Panthers roster, five of which are dedicated to pitching only, East head coach Travis Collins knows the absence of Slater and Farhat could take away from their lineup.

“We just have to find kids who will step up and hit the ball hard for us in the outfield,” Collins said. “We are never going to replace those two guys, you know. Very rarely do you get two Division I players running around in the outfield together at the same time, but hopefully we can somebody will step up and we can find somebody who can be productive at the plate.”

In 2007, East one four of their last five district games, but to end the district schedule they dropped a Saturday game against Allen, 11-1. Though the Panthers still won their district, the loss left a sour taste in their mouths they could not rinse out. In May, East lost two straight to Rockwall in the bi-district playoffs and were out of the postseason early.

But as one senior class leaves, new seniors come into their final year and a different mindset tends to take over.

“We’ve talked about the fact that that was last year’s bunch,” said Collins. “But these guys definitely want to go a couple of rounds deep in the playoffs at least. They know what they needed to do last year and what they can do this year to get better. But we haven’t really talked about it a whole lot, just in passing. I think they are more worried about this year and how they can make this team the best it can be.”

After losing nine seniors, the Panthers return seven players from last year’s roster, five of which will play their final season in gold and black at East.

Two of those seniors, shortstop Jeff Emens and second baseman Justin Snider, who also happen to be the teams captains, have patrolled the middle of the infield together since their freshman year. Snider and Emens hope to make this season a memorable one.

“We want to go out with a bang for sure,” Snider said. “We want to start strong and show people what we’ve got. But we also want to finish strong.”

Emens calls Snider the outgoing character of the team. As a leader, his personality is confident and his aspirations for this final season center around having a good time playing ball.

“I love playing with him,” Emens said. “Because he knows what he’s doing he just makes the game so much eaier.”

Last season Emens, who signed with Missouri, collected the first district win of the year for East with a no-hitter against Lake Highlands.

Throughout the season, however, his role on the mound took away from the Panthers defensively, at shortstop.

Collins believes they have that covered this year as senior Philip Scarborough can slide into that spot on occasion as well. The expectation is that Emens will start frequently on Tuesdays and Fridays this season.

That being said, Emens feels that the expectations of this team are still set pretty high.

“We have our infield coming back so our expectations defensively should be up,” Emens said. “But every year in high school baseball you have kids from JV moving up and you don’t really know how they are going to do, but they are all good players and can all step up so we should be fine. I take a lot of responsibility if the team doesn’t play well or isn’t ready to play. A lot of it is teaching these younger guys what I’ve learned.”

With Emens and Snider manning the infield, East looks to contend and Scarborough taking up the hot-corner at third, the Panthers hoped to find a few alternatives in the outfield.

Junior Logan Reneau, who has been behind the plate for the Panthers in the past will make a move to the outfield, and senior Derek Bell, who came through for East often last season at the plate adds potency to the batting order.

Emens speaks highly of sophomore Alex Harris, and thinks there will be flashes of excitement from the young outfielder throughout the season.

“Alex is a heck of a ballplayer,” Emens said. “He can pretty much do anything. He can hit he can throw. He is just an all-around player. I’m excited to see him this season.”

Add lefty junior Nathan Snodgrass, who also pitches, in the mix with a handful of other outfielders and these Panthers feel they have an opportunity to contend for yet another district championship.

But that won’t come without a fight as each district opponent believes they have a shot at the title.

But as reigning champions, the Panthers understand the battle is before them. If they can take on a similar identity as last season and maintain focus, East could find themselves at the top again.

“It’s going to be more difficult,” Collins said. “I don’t know about our personality yet. We’ve got some kids who are really serious and I don’t think we’ve gotten the attitude yet where we don’t let a whole lot of things bother us. That was the biggest point about last year’s guys. They didn’t let things get them down, they were more concerned about how we were doing. I think this group is trying to find those guys who can do that.”