Success has been hard to come by for the Escambia County Blue Devils baseball team the last few seasons, but a large amount of young talent could be set to turn the state of the program around.

The Blue Devils only won three games last season, but are now under the direction of head baseball coach Andy Lambert.

Lambert brings experience to the diamond having coached under Robbie Carpenter at Excel High School.

The experience under Carpenter is something that Lambert will use as he looks to lead the Blue Devils through his first season.

“Robbie Carpenter, who I was under at Excel, guided me along and showed me how things are done,” he said. “He showed me how to not waste any time at practice and to make sure every moment is used to improve the kids. By seeing that happened and seeing the results allows me to know how to get those things in place.”

Lambert kicked off his head coaching duties with the Blue Devils last semester by holding open tryouts where more than 40 students tried out for the team.

What came from the try out were junior varsity and varsity squads with Lambert keeping 33 players.

With the amount of players kept, talent is on the roster, but the youth of the athletes is an overwhelming factor, Lambert said.

“I think we have some talent on the team, but it’s raw,” he said. “We need a lot of work in certain areas. We have several talented kids on our junior varsity team, and some of those kids will have to move up and contribute a lot for us at the varsity level because we have a small class of seniors and juniors. Overall, our program is extremely young and we pulled up several eighth graders and handful of seventh graders to play on our junior varsity team.”

Despite not being able to practice until Monday, Lambert has been able to study his players and find the good in his roster.

Their dedication to learning the game is something that has stood out, he said.

“They work hard, have a good attitude and seemed to be focused on doing things the right way,” he said. “They are putting in the work every day to try and get better at the little things, so we can move this program in the right direction.”

With practice now underway, getting the Blue Devils used to the organization will be key, Lambert said.

“The first days of practice, we are going to take our time, so the kids can see our practice organization and what we want to do,” he said.

“That’s going to be what we do, so they see our plan on how we want things done and how we will get those things done.”

With the opening day less than a month away, Lambert said he knows that his team will have its share of rough spots to begin the season.

“Our outlook is that we are going that we are young and will experience growing pains early,” he said. “As the season moves along, I think we can also make some strides and improve.”