At the onset of the 2013 campaign, UC Davis baseball head coach Matt Vaughn made it clear that the expectations for this year’s edition of his squad — as young as they may be — would not be lessened.

But Vaughn knows that doesn’t mean the Aggies won’t go through a few rough patches — especially after graduating nine seniors, including three from the starting rotation. After the initial slate of nonconference games, UCD is 7-10 and learning the ways in which it needs to get better.

Prior to Tuesday’s 11-10 home loss Nevada, Vaughn talked to The Enterprise about how the Aggies must improve before Big West Conference competition gets under way:

“The first two or three weeks we pitched pretty well. With the exception of (Sunday’s win against CSU Bakersfield at home), our starting pitching just didn’t give us a chance to win the last few games. Obviously, we need some work there. I’m hoping that … it was kind of an aberration, and we can move past it.”

The only veteran remaining in UCD’s rotation, junior Evan Wolf, gave up just two runs in 7 1/3 innings in Sunday’s victory. Senior reliever Patrick Hennessey also has come in to ease situations on multiple occasions.

With the Aggies just two weeks away from the first conference test — a three-game series at Cal Poly beginning March 28 — any adjustments on the mound or otherwise will need to be timely. Thankfully, UCD held on to a total of six seniors who continue to lend expertise.

Third baseman Paul Politi has been one of the leaders of the offensive effort. In Tuesday’s slugfest against Nevada, he went 4-for-6 at the plate and drove in two runs. The senior knows his squad has room for improvement in both its hitting and pitching.

“We’ve had glimpses of both at their peak form,” Politi said. “It’s there, it just needs to be more consistent. We need to show up and play to the best of our abilities. Big West is a tough conference, so to compete, we’re going to have to play our game.”

Politi is supported at the plate by junior infielder Steven Patterson, who Vaughn cited as the most valued batter on the UCD roster. He hopes the two can help the Aggies “get the bats going again.” Vaughn’s comment came before the Aggies scored 10 runs on Tuesday, so the turnaround may have already begun.

The next chance to show off the bats that helped UCD explode for 22 runs in a game earlier this season is a weekend series in Bellevue, Wash. The Aggies take on Seattle starting with a contest on Friday at 4 p.m. After the three games up north, UCD has single games against San Jose State — the team it scored 22 runs against last month — on Monday, before hosting Stanford in its final nonconference outing on Tuesday (2:30 p.m.).

“Our nonconference schedule is well set up to get us ready for (Big West play),” Vaughn said. “There’s been a few more kinks than we would have liked, but it’s good to get them out of the way before conference.”

— Reach Brett Johnson at [email protected] or 530-747-8052. Follow him on Twitter at @ReporterBrett

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UCD slugger Paul Politi is a senior, who provides leadership for the Aggies along with his hitting. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise file photo

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