It's a safe bet that if the Newfound baseball team accomplishes its goals this season — that is, taking a run at the Division III tournament — the linchpin of its success will be its pitching. The Bears have some solid talent in the rotation with lefties Dahlton Fairbank and Logan Belanger and right hander Zach Desrochers leading the way.

Newfound's pitching has been strong over its 3-0 start in Division III. The Bears have allowed just seven runs over their first three games, and Fairbank has already notched 17 strikeouts on the season.

But the team is getting a welcomed boost from its offense, which features a nice blend of power and speed and has produced 1.4 runs per inning so far this spring.

“We spent a lot of time in the preseaon while we were inside just simplifying our swings,” Newfound coach Sean Bean said after Monday's 9-2 win over Inter-Lakes. “Just getting down to the simplest, most basic steps. We filmed them every couple days so they could see their progress... and the kids are actually at the point where if they have a hitch in their swing, if they put something in their swing that we haven’t worked on, they know it right away.”

The Bears will see just how potent this offense can be should Berlin star Curtis Arsenault be on the mound for Wednesday's matchup. The Bears host Berlin at 4 p.m.