By Andy Walter

DOVER — Marquis Guy just remembers how much he was looking forward to baseball season last spring.

Dover High was almost two weeks into pre-season practice and the Senators’ season opener was less than a couple weeks away.

“I was really excited,” Guy said before practice on Tuesday afternoon. “It was my junior year and I was going to be a starter in centerfield. And, you know, we had Dom Velazquez on the team — that’s a great player to want to play with.”

But then, of course, the coronavirus pandemic broke and high school spring sports in Delaware were canceled.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Guy. “I was really looking forward to it all year. This is my favorite sport. ... Hearing that news, it just crushed me really.”

Now, just like having last year wiped out by the pandemic was a new experience for baseball teams around the state, so is returning to the sport after almost two full years away from it.

Dover’s last official game was a 3-1 loss to Cape Henlopen in the DIAA state quarterfinals on May 28, 2019. They’re slated to open the season next Tuesday with a 4:15 p.m. game at Caesar Rodney.

The nine player who were seniors for the Senators last spring are gone now. Velazquez is a starting pitcher as a freshman at Delaware.

Dover coach Dave Gordon says probably only about 50 percent of his current roster was able to play some kind of organized baseball last summer.

“It’s just kind of re-teaching the game and the fundamentals,” said Gordon. “Two years off for the kids is a pretty big gap. I think we’re starting to generate a lot more excitement being closer to the season. We’re improving every single day out here.”

The Senators do have a big class of 11 seniors on this year’s squad. But a lot of them, like Guy, were just getting ready to be varsity contributors last season.

Senior outfielder Alec Rodriguez, who has been a starter since his freshman year, is one of Dover’s few experienced players. Headed for Delaware State in the fall, he was a second-team All-Henlopen North pick as a sophomore.

Of the 34 players who made the All-Henlopen North team in 2019, Rodriguez is one of only three that’s still in high school.

“A lot of us didn’t play over the summer,” said Rodriguez, who did play travel ball last summer. “And chemistry — we haven’t been together in a while. There’s a lot of fundamental issues right now.

“We’re working hard out here every day. I have the most experience and I definitely try to talk guys up, help them with issues they’re having.”

Senior infielder Teyvion McCoy is another player who was ready to step up into a bigger role last season.

“I think the toughest thing is really just everybody knowing what to do once the ball comes to them,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys out here. We’re talking them up every day and making sure they’re doing what they need to be doing to help us and help the program.

“We’ve just got to get back to it. It’s been a long time since people have played baseball. Stuff goes out the window pretty quick.”

Dover has made the DIAA state tournament for 10 seasons in a row. But how the Senators match up against other teams in the Henlopen North and in the state is a bit of a mystery right now.

The only consolation is that every other program is in the same situation this season. The teams that get back in the swing of things the fastest might end up being the most successful.

“We’ve got to want it more than everybody else,” said McCoy. “I know what we can do. We’ve got a great team out here. We’ve just got to put it all together.”

“The playing field is level right now because of everything that’s going on,” said Guy. “As a team, we know that everything’s not going to go smooth this year. We’ve got young guys. We know we’re going to hit a couple bumps that we’re going to have to overcome.

“We really have to stay focused a lot this season and really bring the effort.”