MINOOKA – Talk about starting your baseball season off with a bang.

With a 1-0 count Wednesday, Minooka leadoff hitter Caleb Parker launched a fastball over the right field fence, sparking the Indians to a 10-4 win over Joliet Catholic Academy in the season opener for both teams.

“It felt good,” Parker said about opening the season with a dinger. “I was amped up and ready to go. One, it was our opener, and two, JCA is a big rival and we grew up playing with and against a lot of the guys on their team.

“I knew I hit it pretty good. I wasn’t sure if it would carry enough, but it did. We are super young this year and we have a lot to prove, but we’re ready to go.”

The Indians weren’t done in the first inning, either. After JCA starter T.J. Schlageter struck out the next two batters, Minooka’s Andrew Mack went deep to left field, giving the Indians a 2-0 lead.

JCA struck back immediately, scoring twice in the bottom of the first. The Hilltoppers loaded the bases with no outs before Minooka starter Ryan Anderson struck out Louisville committ Trey Swiderski. Jackson Cullen followed with a fielder’s choice to short, scoring Luka Radicevich, and a single to right by Ryan Louthan scored Aidan Voss to tie the game at 2.

Minooka, however, kept on hitting.

With two outs and a runner on first, Andrew Furillo walked and Parker beat out a grounder to first to load the bases. Ivan Dahlberg singled to left, scoring Nolan Zurawski and Furillo. Mitch Thomas followed with a single to right to score Parker. After a walk to Mack loaded the bases, Sully Minor cleared them with a double to right-center on a 3-2 pitch that had the runners moving, giving Minooka a 8-2 lead.

“We swung the bats well,” Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic said. “We are pretty balanced up and down the lineup. We will start six juniors in most of our games, so we have some youth and tentativeness to overcome. I love this group of kids. There’s not a lot of individual stuff with them. It’s all about the team.”

JCA got a run back in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Radicevich, scoring Danny O’Brien, who had walked and went to second on a wild pitch, but Minooka answered with another run in the top of the third on an RBI fielder’s choice by Parker, scoring Dylan Cecala. An RBI double by JCA’s Louthan in the bottom of the third made it 9-4.

The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh when Minooka scratched across another run. Minor led off with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Mike Murphy followed with a bunt single to third, and Minor scored when the throw got away at first.

Minooka reliver Ryan Norman was nearly flawless, striking out seven in the final three innings. He allowed only one hit and hit two batters. Anderson struck out five in his four innings, and only two of the runs he allowed were earned.

Offensively for Minooka, Minor was 2 for 3 with three RBIs. Zurawski and Cecala both were 2 for 3, while Parker and Dahlberg each went 2 for 4. Radicevich and Louthan each had two hits for JCA. In three innings of relief, JCA’s Jake Gimbel allowed a run on five hits and struck out five.

“Both Ryans pitched well today,” Petrovic said. “They struck out a lot of guys, which helped us overcome some errors in the field. We gave a good team too many breaks, but we got away with it. We had three runners picked off, so we gave away an inning offensively, and we made three errors, so we gave away an inning defensively. Those are things we need to get shored up, and we will.”

For JCA, it was enough to be playing.

“It was great to be out here on a beautiful day before St. Patrick’s Day,” JCA coach Jared Voss said. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We love playing teams from around here because we know we are going to get great games. Minooka, Lockport, Providence, the Plainfield schools. There is such great baseball in this area.

“But we have to come ready to play. If you don’t come ready to play, you get beat, 10-4. I was happy with how [relief pitcher] Jake Gimbel threw the ball. He did a nice job in the last three innings.”