It might not feel like it, but the spring sports season is here.

Not only are high school teams beginning their practice sessions, but the local colleges have begun their regular-season schedules.

As it always seems this time of the year, the baseball teams at MCLA and Williams begin their seasons in a stop-and-start mode.

The Trailblazers, who played three non-conference games in Massachusetts, are currently in Florida and will be there through this week.

Williams played three games, all on the road and on artificial turf. Williams will also be heading to Florida this week for the first of nine games. Six of them are non-league contests, while Williams will play its NESCAC season opener against Hamilton on March 27. That is a three-game series.

MCLA will host Williams on Wednesday, April 29 at 4 p.m.

MCLA

The Trailblazers, who were 5-30 last year and 2-19 in MASCAC play, are picked to finish last in the nine-team conference, according to the preseason coaches’ poll.

The good news for coach Mike Gladu and his team is that with four games remaining in Florida, MCLA is already 4-3. The team will look to get back to double-figure wins for the first time since 2018.

In the three weeks of the regular season, MCLA’s Roshan Warriar has been named MASCAC player of the week twice.

The sophomore shortstop/pitcher from Pittsfield High School went 9-for-18 last week, with a double, a triple, four runs batted in and 10 runs scored.

He also was named player of the week after going 5 for 8 in a season-opening doubleheader at Yeshiva. MCLA won both of those games.

Sophomore right-hander Cam Harrington, a PHS teammate of Warriar, has been the early-season top pitcher for MCLA. He is 2-0, getting the win in a game against Yeshiva and in Florida against Emerson. He has thrown 10 innings so far, giving up one earned run on six hits. He has 17 strikeouts.

Graduate student Josh Bissaillon will also be counted on to be a mound presence.

Bissaillon is also MCLA’s top power threat. He is hitting .350 with two home runs and 11 RBI.

Freshman first baseman Mike Daley is hitting .389.

The Trailblazers wear blue and gold, but they might as well be wearing purple and white. There are seven Berkshire County players on the MCLA roster and five of them played for Pittsfield High School. Those five are Warriar, Harrington, Ben Jacob, Ben Cornish and Camden Zerbato. Taconic’s Chase Wendling and McCann Tech’s Collin Booth are also on the roster. Zerbato and Wendling are part of a nine-member freshman class that Gladu is high on.

Williams College

Play at second

Williams’ Dave Mosrie goes for the tag at second base of MCLA’s Ben Jacob during last year’s matchup. The Trailblazers will host Williams this season on April 29.

GILLIAN HECK — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

Last year was a big bounce-back season for coach Bill Barrale and the Ephs.

Williams went 22-15 overall and 7-5 in NESCAC. That earned them a spot in the NESCAC tournament for the first time since 2019.

The Ephs got to the championship game before losing to Middlebury, as they sought their first NESCAC tourney title since 2007 and the berth in the NCAA Division III tournament that goes with it.

So far, Williams is 1-3. The Ephs dropped a doubleheader at Springfield and then beat Brandeis.

Barrale has some big holes to fill, as two first-team, All-NESCAC players graduated. Catcher Henry Juan and first baseman James O’Connor are gone. Last year, Williams hit 22 home runs. Juan had 4 and O’Connor 8.

Sophomore Hank Jacobus has been behind the plate for Williams while junior Will Scott has settled in at first base.

The Ephs will not have NESCAC co-pitcher of the year Owen McHugh on the bump early on. McHugh, who also missed football season, had Tommy John surgery last summer on his right arm. Last year, he was 3-1 with a 2.27 earned-run average and 53 strikeouts.

It always helps when two of last year’s better hitters return. Junior outfielder Ryan Nakajima, a first-team All-NESCAC pick last year, is hitting .417 to start the season with a 1.334 OPS. Second on the team in hitting is outfielder Marcus Burrell II, who is batting at a .300 clip to start. 

Baseball is the only NESCAC sport with divisions. Williams plays in the NESCAC West, along with Amherst, Wesleyan, Middlebury and Hamilton. 

Williams will play a three-game series at East Division foe Trinity April 3-4.

Trinity will host the double-elimination championship series May 8-10.