Mike Larsen grew up bleeding Hull High blue and gold, with an eye on beating rival Cohasset every time he stepped on the football field or the baseball diamond.

In his final high school football game against Cohasset, on Thanksgiving Day 2008, Larsen intercepted a pass on the first drive of the game.

This spring, the 25-year-0ld Larsen is in his first season as the varsity baseball coach at Cohasset High, replacing Pete Afanasiw, who stepped down last June after guiding the Skippers to six straight MIAA state tournamament appearances.

Cohasset (2-6) has a matchup against Hull looming on Tuesday.

“It’s a highly-anticipated game for me,’’ said Larsen, who is also an instructor at the Atlantic Baseball Club in Pembroke.

“I can’t wait for the emotions of the day. I’m going up against somebody (Hull coach Mike O’Donnell) who is obviously a big mentor in my life. I’ll take a lot of pride in competing against them.’’

A 2009 graduate of Hull High, Larsen went on to a four-year playing career at Southern Vermont University. He collected a hit in his first at bat as a collegian and was a role player his first two seasons, when the Mountaineers qualified for the New England Collegiate Conference playoffs, including the championship game in 2011.

He identified his path to coaching early.

“I think coming up through high school the dream of major league baseball dies out and you get a better idea of what you want to do,’’ said Larsen, who was a sports management major in colleg.e “I knew I wanted to play Division 3 baseball in college and I also knew coaching was for me.’’

Larsen was a backup infielder and pitcher at Southern Vermont. It’s fitting that his emphasis at Cohasset is on pitching and defense, and making sure the Skippers take pride in all aspects of the game.

“Right now we’re hitting the ball great, but we’re trying to sharpen our defense,’’ said Larsen.

“I definitely stress defense and pitching. A lot of kids grow up learning to hit from an early age. That and just playing with a lot of pride in everything we do, down to the smallest things like rounding first off a base hit. We want to execute those things to the best of our ability.’’

Larsen’s first career win came in a 17-1 victory over Rockland last week. “It felt amazing,’’ he said. “We were on a three-game losing streak, so it was much needed therapy for everybody.

“I’m just having the time of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun being involved in baseball, even as a player.’’

John Johnson can be reached at jjohnson49@comcast.net.