The sweet sound of the ball meeting an aluminum bat. The perfect changeup that freezes a batter for strike three. The smoothness of turning a double play.Baseball is in the air, folks.

The Castleton Spartans took the mound and kicked off the 2007 season away from home, but are picking up right where they left off.

In his seventh year at the helm, manager Ted Shipley only lost two seniors from last year’s team and return veteran third baseman Phil Puleo and shortstop Tim Zorio.

The Spartans, whom finished last season with a record of 23-19 and 7-5 in conference play, were picked for third place in the North Atlantic Conference’s preseason poll.

Castleton opened the season with a doubleheader against The Apprentice School in Newport News, Va.

In the first game, the Spartans jumped out a 5-0 lead after four innings and cruised to a 9-2 victory. Freshman Ken Cook pitched four scoreless innings and allowed only a trio of hits en route to the win. First baseman Shawn Horvath led the Spartan offense, going 2-for-3 and driving in three runs.

After getting 13 hits in the opener, The Apprentice School held Castleton to eight and delivered a 9-3 blow to split the twin bill. Craig Borgen took the loss in his first start, surrendering seven hits and four earned runs in three innings. Chris Ragis, Billy Bruneau and catcher Kyle Brooks each had RBI base-knocks.

The Spartans stayed in Virginia and faced Christopher Newport University in a doubleheader the very next day. Castleton dropped game one 7-1 while being out-hit 11-4, two of which came from second baseman Anthony DiPietrantonio.

The second game proved to be a heartbreaker for the Spartans.

Castleton squandered a 5-0 lead when starter Tom Cummings gave up seven runs in the fourth inning. Freshman leftfielder Jon Handy went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.

Shipley’s squad headed to Tampa for a four-game trip, in which they came away with three wins.

They defeated Skidmore 8-5 and swept Colby-Sawyer with dominant scores of 13-1 and 9-0, but suffered a 6-5 loss at the hands of Wentworth Institute.

The Spartans, 4-4, will play a doubleheader at Coast Guard Academy Sunday.