By Andy Walter

DOVER — Off the bat, the ball looked like trouble.

And Woodbridge High had the bases loaded as the line drive shot through the infield.

But Brandon Yoder had other ideas. The Dover shortstop leaped up, snared the ball and perhaps saved a victory for the Senators.

“I thought it was over his head,” said senior catcher Sir William Bauer. “But then I saw him jump up.

“He used all 6-1 of him for the jump catch,” Bauer added. “That was big because we only had a two-run lead. A base hit scores two.”

Nail-biter or not, Dover will gladly take its season-opening 2-0 victory over the Blue Raiders on Tuesday as a good starting point.

The Senators, who host Sussex Tech (1-0) today at 4:15 p.m. in their Henlopen North opener, are pretty young. They started two freshmen and a pair of sophomores against Woodbridge.

But first-year head coach Nick Spadafino thinks there’s a lot of relatively inexperienced players around the state. Everybody lost a year of development when the 2020 spring season was wiped out by the pandemic.

“Everybody’s kind of in the same boat we are,” said Spadafino, a former Senator player and assistant coach. “Our experienced players have one year of experience. Really last year was their first full year (on varsity).

“I think the nice thing we have is a good mix of those older guys — that are little more mature and did play a lot last year — plus some guys that they just had their first at-bats ever on Tuesday in a high school jersey. It’s a good mix.”

Dover returns a handful of starters from a squad that went 11-10 and won a pair of DIAA state tournament games last season. Bauer (Sr., catcher), Yoder (So., shortstop), Hunter Chambers (So., pitcher/third base), Cole Green (Sr., pitcher/third base), Joell Gray (Sr., right field) and Logan Smith (Sr., first base) all got some starts in 2021.

Green, who pitched six shutout innings before reaching his 85-pitch limit against Woodbridge, was excited to get the opening day start.

“I was ready, I was pumped,” said the 6-foot-3 right hander. “It was definitely something to look forward to — especially under a new head coach. It’s awesome to be able to get his first win.

“It’s just a big confidence builder for us.”

Chambers closed the contest, getting the big last out in the sixth before pitching a shutout seventh.

With Spadafino and several of his assistant coaches having been part of the program before, the Senators say they have a lot of confidence in Dover’s tradition.

They made the DIAA state tournament 12 straight seasons under former head coach Dave Gordon.

“I think our chemistry is great,” said Green. “We all get along together. There’s no drama between each other. The coaches are great — they’re energized with us.”

Dover has a somewhat unusual schedule.

Today’s game against Sussex Tech is the Senators’ only home contest before April 14. They play five straight road games.

But then Dover has a nine-game stretch that includes eight home dates.

All things considered, the Senators know nobody’s picking them to win the Henlopen North right now. That’s OK with them, though.

A year ago, Dover won eight of its last 11 contests.

“We can shock a lot of people and turn heads,” said Bauer. “No one thinks too highly of themselves — everyone plays as a team. Everyone plays for the guy next to them.

“We all play for Dover, not just for one person.”

Follow Andy Walter on Twitter at @DSNSports.