There is no right answer, of course. Not when a fellow student walks up to you on a fall Friday and asks if you're going to win that night. Not when you're a Highland football player.

You can't say no. As an athlete, as a competitor, you can't even think no.

But they can't believe yes.

"It was horrible," Highland junior receiver and cornerback Jacob Meyer says of the grief he and his teammates took from classmates during a second consecutive winless regular season. "They'd say, 'You gonna win tonight?' I'd say, 'Yeah,' and they'd say, 'Right.'"

It's not much different for the basketball players. The Trojans went 11-51 over the past three seasons, and they've heard it all, too.

"We've had a rough couple of years," says junior shooting guard Rich Fowler.

But baseball -- ah, baseball. Perhaps nowhere is hope springing eternal quite like at Highland, a school flat-out craving an uplifting season in one of the big three boys sports. With a young core of talented players -- including only two seniors and a slew of juniors already in their second or third year as starters -- the Trojans are building toward something big.

And something desperately needed -- by not just the school's fans, but its beleaguered athletes.

"They just want to win, period," says assistant coach John Bogner, who also works with the football team. "Some of these guys have stuck through some really bad seasons, and they're waiting for that time."

Well, if an 11-1 loss at Duneland powerhouse Crown Point in Wednesday's opener is any indication, it might not be now. Especially with several players starting the season either hurt or on suspension for violating the athletic code of conduct.

But their time is near. The Trojans can say that much without hesitation.

"We have the chance to do something really special next season, when we've gotten some of the younger guys more experience," Fowler says. "But we're not passing up this year yet. We can still do some great things."

Highland sees itself in sort of the same situation Lake Central was in a couple years ago. That year, the Indians stuck a whole bunch of sophomores on the field and let them learn on the job. Two years later, they have pretty much the same lineup and are No. 1 in the state.

While that's the extreme case, Highland will be awfully experienced (not to mention talented) next year.

Coming off an 18-11 campaign last spring, the Trojans have just two seniors -- Pedro Guerrero and Joel Smith. They bring back juniors John Livingston and Fowler (eight home runs each), as well as junior Mike Bremer and sophomore Keith Mahler. Then there are newcomers such as freshman pitcher Jordan Minch and junior catcher Tariq Suboh (who's suspended for the first half of the season).

After a skin-thickening brutal Northwest Crossroads Conference schedule, not to mention a slate of non-conference games against Duneland foes, Highland is poised to make quite a run in 2010.

"You try not to look ahead, but do they talk about it in the locker room? Yeah, they do," Bogner says. "You hear them talking -- a lot of 'Wait till next year.'"

But the question is, what can they do this year in the meantime? Even with Mahler out with a leg injury and three players suspended, the Trojans feel they have the horses to contend in a fierce conference and a fierce sectional (one which includes that vaunted Lake Central squad and Munster).

After 27 seasons and 549 victories, head coach Dan Miller wouldn't let his players think any differently, no matter how the rest of the region has come to regard Highland athletics.

"I think it comes down to Dan Miller and what he does for this program" Bogner says. "This isn't meant to disparage any of our other coaches, who work very hard and do great jobs, but Dan Miller's as good as it gets. He won't accept just average. We expect to win every game, and we feel we always have a chance in our conference and our sectional. And we have really good kids, and they really respond to Dan's challenges."

You can hear that in the players' voices. It's not the same tenor as in the fall, or in the winter. Springtime is Highland's time.

So go ahead and ask them now if the Trojans are going to win on a given night. There won't be any hesitation on their end. And there shouldn't be any doubt on the other end.

"We're sick of it, sick of the losing and the talk and everything," Fowler says. "It's time to step up and do something about it."

Contact Mark Lazerus at 648-3140 or mlazerus@post-trib.com. For more baseball coverage, visit his blog at blogs.post-trib.com/lazerus.