JOLIET – There might be better ways to start a baseball season than Joliet Central did Monday against East Aurora, but this one is hard to top.

The Steelmen scored in every inning, including a 10-spot in the bottom of the third, and played flawless defense en route to a 15-0, four-inning win over the Tomcats at Duly Health and Care Field.

That defense showed itself early.

After a walk to East Aurora leadoff man Kentrell McLaurin and a single by Sammy Gonzalez put runners on first and second with no outs in the first, Joliet Central’s Vai Stulga stymied another bid for a hit by making a sliding catch on a blooper to right. Central starting pitcher Nathan Maldonado then induced a sharp grounder to short. Steelmen shortstop Jay Zepeda fielded it cleanly and flipped to John Stasiak at second, who made a quick turn and perfect throw to complete the double play.

“The defense was very good today,” Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. “Vai Stulga made a nice catch in right, and the double play was good to see.

“[Assistant] coach [Tony] Juarez says to make the everyday play every day, and our guys did that. We made the plays we should make, and that goes a long way.”

The Steelmen got their defense a run to work with rather quickly. Maldonado led off by getting hit by a pitch, then he stole second. Rodney DeSilva followed with a single to right-center to score Maldonado.

Central’s defense showed up big again in the top of the second. After a leadoff single by East Aurora’s Kevin Peña, Julio Gallegos looped a liner toward short. Zepeda caught it and fired to first to double off Peña for the Steelmen’s second double play in as many innings. Maldonado then induced a grounder to third by Isaiah Velazquez to end the inning.

Central got another run in the second. With one out, Andrew Mixon singled to right and went to second on a grounder to short. Josh Gustafson then hit a bloop double to center to score Mixon for a 2-0 lead.

DeSilva took over on the mound for Central in the third and worked a 1-2-3 inning, striking out the last two hitters, before he and his teammates broke it open in the bottom half.

Jose Huizar-Ledezma got the scoring started with a two-run single, and Mixon followed with an RBI single of his own. After a walk to Daniel Calderon and a single by Daniel Quiros loaded the bases, Maldonado delivered an RBI single and DeSilva drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk. Stasiak then plated Quiros with a sacrifice fly into foul territory behind first. Huizar-Ledezma capped the big inning with another two-run single for a 12-0 Central lead.

“This was a nice way to start the season,” DeSilva said. “In my first at-bat, I just tried to keep things simple and not try to overpower anything. I just wanted to put the ball in play.

“When I was pitching, I tried to stay zoned in and not get too out of control. I was able to keep the ball in the strike zone, and our defense made all the plays. It makes all the work we have done worth it.”

DeSilva struck out two more in the top of the fourth before Central invoked the 15-run rule in the bottom half.

Noah Whitlock led off the inning with a walk, and Xavier Brass followed with a single. A walk to Da’Shaun Turner loaded the bases, and a walk to Tyler Bragg brought home Whitlock. Another walk, this one to Xavier Eggert, scored Brass and, an out later, Diego Gutierrez drew a walk to bring Turner home with the 15th run.

“We saw some good things today and some things we need to work on,” Fitzgerald said. “Both Nathan and Rodney pitched well and threw a lot of strikes.

“It was great to get everyone an at-bat today, too.”