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PORT NECHES — The Port Neches-Groves baseball team gained invaluable experience this season.

PNG fielded one of the youngest and least experienced teams in head coach Scott Carter’s coaching career, but the squad was in playoff contention all the way up until the final game of the season.

The team competed against rival Nederland in a play-in game over the weekend after finishing the regular season with a split series and the same record. PNG fell 5-1 to Nederland Saturday to end the season.

PNG entered the season in a rebuilding year after losing all but a couple starters from last year’s team.

Despite missing out on the playoffs, Carter said his team grew tremendously.

“I am extremely proud of these guys,” he said. “They worked hard and did everything I asked of them. We were one game away from getting in and making a run. I am really proud of the effort they gave me. I think we grew as a team all around. Our chemistry got better. Our pitching got better. We just grew as a team and we have to continue to get better. We have a lot of work to do to start building for next year.”

Carter believes the season showed the young team what it takes to be part of a successful program.

“I definitely think it gives them something to fight for and something to prepare for to put our program back where it normally is,” he said.

The coach said he saw his team start to grow and mature from the first day of the season.

“As we continued to play, get better and play through district, there was opportunity to see that growth and I was very proud of them,” he said. “The seniors meant a whole lot to this team. We had a couple of key injuries late that affected the outcome of our season. Not to make excuses, but injuries can change the outcome of what is going on. Caleb Faulk was a leader on our team. Riley Chaisson was a big leader on our team and did a great job along with Caleb Jones. We are going to miss those guys. There were a lot of great seniors on our team. Every single one of them played a role in doing something that made our team what it was.”

PNG should be in a good position entering next season, as a majority of the team will return for the program.