LE CENTER &045; Legion Field in New Richland was not ready, so the season opener for the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva baseball team was moved to LeCenter.

It didn’t much matter to the Panthers. They felt right at home while cruising to a 15-4, five-inning nonconference victory Tuesday.

Coach Jeff Reese was pleased with the showing of his Panthers, who enter the season with very little varsity experience.

&uot;As a team, offensively, we were able to score in every inning, and we had only three strikeouts,&uot; said Reese. &uot;Defensively, we played solid, committing only one error. Pitching-wise, two of our three pitchers threw strikes.&uot;

Jason Churchill started the game with a single and, after stealing second, scored on a one-out single by Joey Balfe. After Mike Hullopeter walked, Adam Warnke drove in Balfe with a sacrifice fly. Hullopeter scored on a single by Brett Wangsness.

The Panthers made it 5-0 in the second, this time started with a single by Churchill, who scored on a Balfe single. Balfe stole second and third and scored on an error.

A five-run third broke it open. Warnke, Jacey Reese Churchill and Zak Tracy had hits and scored.

After the Wildcats scored four times in the bottom of the fourth, the Panthers answered with four in the fifth, three coming on a pinch-hit, bases-clearing double by Matt Wenzel. LeCenter went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, ending the game early by the 10-run rule.

Churchill led a 14-hit attack, going 3-for-3 with two doubles. Balfe was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Reese 2-for-3.

Hullopeter pitched three innings for the win, giving up two hits and no walks, with four strikeouts. Matt Wenzel and Dave Bakken pitched in relief.

The Panthers open Gopher Conference play Monday at home against Randolph.