For the Vernon Diamondbacks, it was their Okanagan Major Baseball League season opener.
The Kamloops Sun Devils, meanwhile, were in mid-season form, somewhere around the 40-game mark.
It showed in the score as the Devils, who have been playing since February, mercied the D-Backs 15-5 Friday night.
Vernon had the energy early, scoring two runs in the top of the first thanks to an RBI Single by Geoff Cleaveley to score CJ Galozo.
Ryan Boe also scored after a walk.
Pete Ortman got the start on the mound for the D-backs, and pitched well into the third inning, giving up two runs before giving way to Tyler Gertzen.
Gertzen struggled with his command, giving up five runs on four hits, while walking four.
Vernon got two runs in the top of the fifth inning, as Galozo scored again after a leadoff walk. Josh Wade and Mike Patitucci also singled in the inning.
After that, the D-Back attack dried up, and the Sun Devils started to chip away at Vernon’s pitching staff, scoring eight runs over the next three innings to seal the win.
“All in all, it was a good start to the season for us. We may be at a bit of a disadvantage having not played yet this year, but I was really impressed with the effort level tonight,” said head coach Kyle Anderson.
“We just need to fine-tune a few things offensively, while our pitchers need to limit the walks (14 tonight), because these teams will capitalize on them.
“Our infielders saw a lot of hard-hit balls tonight, so moving forward I am going to do the best I can to simulate those situations in practice.”
