Christian Brothers Academy’s (CBA) baseball team is starting this season the way it ended last season — as the No. 1 team in the state.

Coach Marty Kenny, who deflects rankings until the season is over, said he was skeptical of the rating with a rebuilding team that returns only three starters from last year’s club that was ranked No. 21 nationally. And he felt the Colts, who are off to a 6-1 start coming into this week, did not quite show the teamwork and defense of last year’s team — only the second team in the Jersey Shore to win five championships in the same season: Shore Conference B North Division, Monmouth County, Shore Conference Tournament and NJSIAA South Jersey, Non-Public A and overall state championships. Wall High School is the other team to have won five titles (2007).

“I’m pleased,” said Kenny, whose team suffered its only loss, 2-1, to Episcopal Academy from Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, as an error let in the deciding run. “I think the young guys are trying to change the culture of our team. There’s been a little more teamwork and less individual play and more intensity in the last two games we played than what they showed earlier this season.”

That includes a soggy 10-6 victory April 9 over Shore Conference A South team Brick Memorial High School. The Colts squandered a 5-0 lead and then snapped a 6-6 tie with three runs in the sixth inning. Catcher Brandon Martorano, one of two CBA seniors headed to the University of North Carolina in the fall along with pitcher/first baseman Luca Dalatri, drove in four runs, and senior second baseman Luke Cheche batted in three. Each had two hits against Brick Memorial.

Martorano, Dalatri and senior center fielder Cid Porter, who batted .335 last season, are the lone returning starters.

The Brick Memorial victory came off what was an emotional statement in the game before that: a 9-7 victory over Freehold High School and star pitcher Steve Rullo, who twice beat CBA last season in a pair of shutout victories — one a one-hitter and the other a 10-run rule rout.

CBA was 27-5 overall last season.

“This one was personal, especially for the guys that were around last year,” said senior Ken Campbell, a pitcher and outfielder headed to Lehigh University who highlighted another late rally for the Colts when his run-scoring double in the sixth inning snapped a 7-7 tie against Freehold. “We came here wanting to make a statement, and I think we did that.”

Kenny feels defense is his only significant concern, with either new starters or players like Campbell, who goes from playing first base part time last season to moving into right field this season when he isn’t pitching.

“No question, we’ll hit and we’ll hit consistently well and our pitching is pretty deep where we can turn to six to eight guys,” said Kenny, who was honored by the New Jersey Coaches Association at the Pines Manor in Edison April 10 as the baseball Coach of the Year. “But we’ve had a couple of guys struggling on defense and some guys moving around. At times we’ve played well and at times we’ve been sloppy. Last year, our defense was pretty strong. Hopefully, we’ll get to the level we need to get to [defensively].”

Kenny feels this could be a telltale week. There was an April 12 division game scheduled at Middletown High School South, which was off to a 3-1 start coming into this week, and an April 14 home game against Howell High School, which won its first four games.

Then, there’s a game against Toms River High School North at 4 p.m. April 16 in an Autism Awareness showcase played at Toms River High School South. Another Autism Awareness game will be played April 24 against Holy Spirit High School at 4 p.m.

Senior Joe Gargano, who locates effective fastball, curve and changeup pitches, looks like the No. 2 starter behind Dalatri, whose four-pitch repertoire of fastball, curve, slider and changeup make him one of the premier pitchers in the Shore. Campbell already is 2-0 on the mound. Sophomore Nick Hohenstein throws with good velocity and has a good breaking ball. Senior Ryan Nelson also is ready for the call to the mound, but the key is juniors Sal Morreale and 6-foot-3 Ron Meehan.

“If we can get those two where we’d like, we’ll be pretty strong on the mound,” Kenny said.

Hohenstein also is batting 8-for-13 with six RBIs, and Martorano is hitting 7-for-12 with nine RBIs. As a team, the Colts are hitting .469 at this early juncture.

As for the other new starters, junior Sal Rinaldi and sophomore Jack Harnish are a tossup at shortstop.

“Hopefully, they’ll settle down and make our defense stronger,” Kenny said.

Andrea Dalatri, Luca’s sophomore brother, starts at third base. Junior Evan Menendez is a good defensive left fielder, and senior Brendan Galvin is the designated hitter.