PINE GROVE - A pair of non-league losses to open the season left a "bad taste" in the mouths of the Pottsville baseball team.
Tuesday, the Crimson Tide made sure that taste wouldn't last too long.
With Travis Blankenhorn and Ty Painter leading the offense and Eli Nabholz shutting down the Pine Grove hitters, the Crimson Tide rolled to a 10-2 victory over the Cardinals in their Schuylkill League Division I opener at Stump Stadium.
The loss came after a 10-1 drubbing to Governor Mifflin on Saturday.
"It definitely put a bad taste in our mouths," said Blankenhorn, who was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and four RBIs. "We came together as a team and said we had to start playing better. I think we did that tonight.
"We played good team baseball today. We swung the bats well today."
Pottsville (1-2, 1-0 D-I) scored in five of its seven at-bats and collected nine hits. Blankenhorn, the No. 3 hitter in the lineup, had an RBI single in the first inning, an RBI double in the third and a two-run single in the sixth.
Painter, moved up in the lineup from the No. 9 spot to the No. 2 hole, reached base all four times with a double, an RBI single, two walks, two runs scored and a stolen base.
When you add leadoff hitter Darion Jacoby to the mix, the top three hitters in Pottsville's lineup went 6-for-10 with two doubles, seven runs scored and six RBIs.
"One of the bright spots we had on Saturday was Ty, who had three solid at-bats," Pottsville coach Mike Welsh said. "We decided to bump him up to the two spot today, and he didn't let us down. He had a great day.
"Darion had been doing it all year. The outs that he has have been loud outs. He's hit balls hard right at people.
"When you get those guys on for Travis ... Travis came through and did what he's supposed to do."
What make Pottsville's lineup click was the Crimson Tide's ability to manufacture runs and capitalize on Pine Grove miscues.
In the first inning, Pottsville combined two walks with an error, a safety squeeze, a sacrifice fly and Blankenhorn's hit to plate three runs.
In the third, after doubles by Painter and Blankenhorn, Blankenhorn stole third base. Mike Kuperavage then hit a sacrifice fly to right that gave Pottsville a 5-1 lead at that point.
Pottsville used a wild pitch, a balk and a stolen base to fuel its two-run fourth inning, capitalized on three walks in its two-run sixth inning, and scored an unearned run in the seventh after a fielding error.
"Our kids came ready to play. You could tell on the bus they were focused," Welsh said. "They had good, solid at-bats early, put some runs up and got the big guy a lead. We kept building on it and extended it.
"It's those little things that are going to allow you to win. Our kids did a good job grinding out the at-bats and doing what they were supposed to do."
Nabholz, meanwhile, overcame a shaky start to toss a complete-game five-hitter, striking out 12 and walking one.
Pine Grove (2-2, 0-1) tallied a run in the second when Marcus Brown singled, moved up on two wild pitches and scored as part of an attempted double steal.
In the third, a one-out RBI double by Brian Reichert sliced the lead to 5-2. But with runners on second and third with one out Nabholz bore down, striking out the final two hitters to end the threat.
The Penn State-bound right-hander cruised from there, retiring 14 of the final 15 batters he faced. He threw 101 pitches.
"He's in really good shape," Welsh said. "He felt great. We extended him out to 82 pitches in our last game, so we knew he could go further today.
"It's 5-2 and they have runners on second and third with one out and he's able to get two key strikeouts. He reached back and threw a couple of nice pitches. That was huge. It was critical. He's a smart pitcher and he did a heck of a job."
Pine Grove was hampered by three errors, and starting pitcher Jed Blankenhorn walked five in 5.2 innings. In four games, the Cardinals have made 17 errors.
"It could have been a closer game if we would have made some defensive plays that we think should be made in this program," Lehman said. "The first inning, we started with two walks and we had a dropped fly ball. We had some other fly balls that we thought should have been caught.
"We have to start making plays. We haven't been playing well defensively."