There’s not a lot of uncertainty about Porters Chapel Academy this season. The Eagles are well aware of both their strengths and their limitations.

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However, there are question marks. Can they scrape together enough pitching to contend? When will some of their starters return from various injuries? Will this be the first time in a decade they don’t make the playoffs?

“We have talent. We just have to develop our skills,” senior catcher Josh Hill said. “We’ve got some players. We’ve got some starters back and some good numbers in the lineup. The only thing we’ve got to develop is pitching.”

Of all PCA’s question marks, that is indeed the biggest. From Heath Smith to Ryan Hoben, and Michael Busby to Matt Cranfield, the Eagles have always had at least one dominant starting pitcher during their run of 10 straight playoff appearances. This year, that mantle is passed to sophomore Montana McDaniel.

McDaniel was PCA’s No. 2 pitcher last year behind Cranfield and did fairly well. He struck out 37 batters, walked only eight, and had a 2.12 ERA in 32 1/3 innings. He also had a 1-4 record.

“It’s kind of hard putting it all on me. I’m going to have to have a lot of help on the field,” McDaniel said, adding that pitching as a freshman last year helped ease some of his jitters. “That helped me a lot. Gave me confidence that I can do it.”

Hill said he’s seen some of that confidence surface in McDaniel.

“It seems like he’d gotten a little more confident because of his age. You can see it in his swagger,” Hill said. “I’m going to have a lot of confidence in him this year.”

How much confidence the Eagles have in the rest of their staff remains to be seen, though. Three other returning pitchers — Joe Borrello, Clayton Holmes and Reed Gordon — were a combined 5-5, and none had an ERA under 4.00. Almost everyone on the roster can pitch, but the question is if they can do it well enough to give PCA a chance to win.

“I expect a challenge, simply because I don’t have that one guy I could run out there and give us a sure win,” coach Randy Wright said. “I’m expecting Montana to be that guy. I just don’t know if he’s going to be that guy this year. We’re going to have to play good, because we don’t have pitchers that are going to strike everybody out. We’re not going to be throwing a lot of shutouts.”

Wright is also dealing with a few injuries to key players. Hill has been battling a sore back since football season, and Holmes suffered a badly sprained ankle while playing basketball in late January. Wright hopes both are OK for the Feb. 23 opener against Tri-County, but both injuries are a big concern.

Holmes, a shortstop, hit .427 and scored 37 runs last season. Hill hit .356 with five home runs. Take away those two, and there are only three players in the starting lineup who had more than 10 at-bats in 2008. Still, hitting will have to be a strength for PCA to be a contender.

“We can’t rely on pitching to win games. We have to rely on our hitting ability,” Hill said. “It’s going to help us. I like knowing we’re going to have to come out and play our best instead of somebody throwing nine innings like Cranfield did last year.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com.