Porters Chapel is facing a lot of the same questions teams face in the season after winning a championship.

Who will replace their departed seniors? How will the new players react to being thrown into the everyday lineup? And, most importantly, how do the returning stars stay hungry for a run at another title?

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For PCA, the answer to the first two questions is a talented corps of young players who, hopefully, will break through. The answer to the final question is by remembering how hard it was to win last year.

“We know we can do it because most of us were on the team last year,” senior pitcher Reed Gordon said. “People don’t understand how hard it is to repeat.”

PCA opened the season by losing two of three in the preseason ACCS tournament in Natchez last week. Tonight’s home opener against Central Hinds was rained out, and the Eagles will play at Newton Academy on Tuesday.

Winning the first championship was difficult enough. PCA earned five of its eight playoff victories in the sixth inning or later, and two in extra innings, on the way to its third MAIS Class A championship in seven seasons.

Five starters are gone from that team, however, three of whom hit .400 or better. The players stepping into the starting lineup to replace them have a total of 45 career at-bats on the varsity level.

Kreuz Federick, PCA’s new catcher, had 23 of those in his sophomore season at St. Aloysius. The only other newcomer with significant varsity experience is Jeff Hearn, who played second base during last year’s championship run but was often replaced in the lineup by a designated hitter.

“There’s a difference between hitting BP off of me and hitting off a real pitcher. That takes some time to sort out,” said first-year coach Doug Branning. He took over when Randy Wright retired at the end of last season. “These young guys, I just need to see them and see what they can do.”

Despite the youth of the new players, PCA is far from inexperienced as a team. Its top two pitchers, Gordon and ace Montana McDaniel, are both back. McDaniel went 11-1 last season with a 1.08 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 75 innings. Gordon was 6-1 with a 2.34 ERA.

Joining them in the rotation are Warren Central transfer John Michael Harris (1-2, 4.12 ERA in 17 innings in 2009), last year’s No. 3 starter Matthew Warren (4-2, 4.14 ERA in 30 1/3 innings) and 6-foot-7 sophomore Talbot Buys.

“If you can go five deep, you’re not bad — as long as those five are effective,” Branning said.

Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com