It wasn’t the start to the season the NRHEG baseball team had hoped for when it opened its season Monday night against Bethlehem Academy.

The Panthers made four errors and fell 15-4 to the Cardinals.

“Overall, we struggled at the plate, Panthers coach Drew Paukert said. “We had a total of 12 strikeouts, so moving forward, we need to do a much better job of putting the ball in play and forcing the defense to make plays.”

NRHEG didn’t do itself many favors in the field, committing four errors on the day.

Bethlehem Academy held a 6-4 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning, but Panthers’ errors and timely hitting for the Cardinals blew the doors open.

Despite the loss, Paukert was happy with his team’s effort.

“I was happy with our effort (tonight),” Paukert said. “We have four new players starting in our infield who didn’t have varsity experience.”