The South Fork Cubs began the new baseball season with four games this week, including three at this weekend’s Maxwell tournament.

And it’s been a decent start to thew new campaign for a young squad that lacks varsity experience.

After a 6-3 win at Upper Lake on Tuesday, the Cubs opened tournament play with a 7-1 win over Chester on Friday before falling to Plumas Charter 11-4 later in the day.

They closed out tournament play with a 9-1 loss to Live Oak on Saturday.

“We have a really young team, with a lot of sophomores and freshmen and only one returning senior,” said first-year head coach Alex Finn, who takes over this season from Chris Contreras. “What’s impressed me the most is probably the pitching from the younger guys.”

Junior Travis Way had a good game on the mound in the tournament win over Chester, throwing 6.1 innings and striking out 15 batters.

Freshman Mason Bell also impressed in relief, striking out two in two-thirds of an inning.

A pair of sophomores — Yoshi Hatch and Bodhi Howes — also have looked sharp on the hill early in the new season despite their relative lack of experience.

And the pitching staff could be a strength of this year’s team.

“We’ve been pitching fairly well for how young we are,” Finn said. “I think we’re staying composed.”

Junior John Stafslien, meanwhile, enjoyed a big day at the plate on Saturday, hitting a triple and a double and scoring the Cubs’ only run of the day.

Despite their lack of production on offense against Live Oak, the Cubs bats have shown plenty of promise.

“We’re putting the ball in play and making the defense make the plays,” said Finn, who added however that the base running is still a work in progress.

With such a young lineup, the new coach says he is less concerned right now with wins and losses and focusing more instead on making improvement day to day.

And he wants his players to stay in the moment.

“When we get down in games, it doesn’t mean we need to hang our heads,” said Finn. “It’s seven innings and it’s not over till the final out. The other team is going to make mistakes too. We need to find a way to stay level and battle for seven innings.”

Other South Fork players also have impressed early in the new season, including freshman Kael Puno, who has started three of the first four games behind the plate, as well as junior third baseman/pitcher Shawn Schmidt and sophomore first baseman/center fielder Cody Wheeler.

“They’ve done well defensively,” Finn said of that duo. “As long as they can start seeing the ball and making connections I feel they can have good years.”

Versatile freshman Sheyne Casey is another young player who is showing some promise early in his high school career and is getting a lot of field time all over the place, playing at second base, catcher and shortstop, as well as on the mound.

While he may new as head coach, Finn has plenty of familiarity with the program, having been an assistant coach with Corky Coffelt and Contreras.

“I’m learning to watch the game from a different perspective,” he said. “It’s a learning year for me too.”

Next up, the Cubs are scheduled to play a doubleheader at Point Arena next Saturday.