It felt a little more like baseball season on a 73-degree afternoon in Herscher Friday after sub-freezing temperatures and snowfall earlier in the week put a damper on the start of year.

Herscher (2-1), playing its third game in as many days and hosting a Kankakee team playing its season opener, got a trio of strong pitching performances to lead the way to a 7-0 win over the Kays.

It was the Tigers’ second win in a row, coming after an 8-4 loss to Milford in Wednesday’s opener and a 13-3 win over Dwight on Thursday.

Herscher junior Brock Berns, who made his 2026 pitching debut and set the tone with four one-hit innings, said it felt nice to pick up another win after a disappointing loss in the opener.

“I feel like after the first game we picked up on everything we needed to pick up on,” he said. “We hit better, fielded better, pitched better, and it won us some games.”

The Tigers got to work early after a one-walk, two-strikeout top of the first inning from Berns.

Gaige Brown walked to open the bottom half and later scored on a sac fly from Dylan Bayston. Nash Brubaker then doubled and scored on a triple from Colton Carson.

After Berns struck out the side in the second, Herscher got RBI singles from Brown and Bayston to double the lead to 4-0.

Berns had three more strikeouts in the third, working around an error and hit batter with two outs, and then led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Courtesy runner Kaden Shroyer and Cam Baker then came around to score on a single from Tanner Jones.

After going scoreless in the fourth, the Tigers added their final run in the fifth when Brown scored after a grounder off the bat of Jones resulted in an error.

Bayston relieved Berns in the fifth, striking out four in two one-hit innings. Jones came in to start the seventh, hitting a batter before striking out the next three to end the game.

Berns picked up the win, striking out nine over four one-hit frames.

He got a taste of varsity action last season, striking out three batters in seven innings, and said he is ready to step into a bigger role as a junior.

“I don’t really overthink it,” he said. “It’s just baseball, and it’s a game at the end of the day.”

Berns is one of several Tiger players looking to step into a heightened role this season, with new faces like the junior Bayston and freshman Carson also reinforcing a group that has the bulk of its core from last season’s 29-8 team.

“We’ve got a nice nucleus back from last year, so we’re trying to take that group of guys and combine it with our newcomers,” head coach Eric Regez said. “We’re just excited to get started here and play some baseball. The weather has cooperated with us, so we’re fortunate to get some work in here.”

Brown was 2 for 2 with two walks, an RBI and two runs while Jones was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and Bayston was 1 for 3 with two RBIs.

Kankakee’s Bentley Deany was the only Kankakee pitcher to not allow a run, throwing 1 1/3 hitless innings with a walk and a strikeout.

Starting catcher Devin Arbour was 1 for 2 with a walk and a steal while third baseman Johnny Short was 1 for 2 with a hit-by-pitch and a steal.

Arbour, back with the Kays after a junior season at Bishop McNamara, and the freshman Short were two of seven Kankakee players to see action Friday that were not on the team last season, a group that also includes starting second baseman and cleanup hitter Mike Prude Jr. and all-state basketball star EJ Hazelett.

Head coach Nick Crowe, in his second season, said it was nice to be able to get this group a game under their belt.

“Being a new group is a good thing, but also a work in progress to bring the guys together,” he said. “It’s natural for everyone to have first game jitters. I think our guys felt that a little bit. It’s the first time seeing real, live pitching this year, so there’s going to be some struggles with that at the beginning of the season.”