RICHMOND — Opening Day is always a special occasion.

The Edison baseball team began the 2026 season in grand fashion against East Liverpool as the Wildcats downed the Potters, 10-0, in six innings winning the game via mercy rule Saturday afternoon out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

“It is always nice to start the season that way,” Edison (1-0) head coach Mike Collopy said. “We were able to play at home and get that first win under our belts. It doesn’t matter how long you have coached or how long you have played, you want to come ready to play and win that first game. Our pitchers threw strikes. Offensively, we competed. They threw a couple different guys at us who had a couple different looks, and we had some really good at-bats. We made some mental mistakes that we have to clean up, but for the first game, I am happy we were able to get the win and now it is time to move on.”

The game was scoreless after the first inning, however, the Edison bats came alive from that point. With the game still scoreless, the Wildcats plated one run in the second to take a 1-0 lead before adding two more in the third to make the score 3-0. The victors then recorded a run in the fourth to increase their advantage to 4-0. Neither team pushed a run across in the fifth, however, the Wildcats brought the game to an end with a six-run sixth inning.

Bryce Rogers recorded the win for the home team. Rogers struck out nine and walked two in his five innings of work on the mound. He struck out the first five batters he faced.

“Bryce is a senior, and we expected him to go out and compete,” Collopy said. “He didn’t have his off-speed pitches working today, but on the other side of that, on the positive side, he had good command of his fastball. He went out and competed. He did what he had to do.”

The Potters used three pitchers in the game.

Donovan Shallcross started the game for East Liverpool, and he took the loss. Shallcross struck out one without walking a batter in his 2 1/3 innings of work. He was replaced with one out in the third by Cooper Klein. Klein did not record a strikeout while walking two in his three innings of relief work. Noah Kinsey came on in relief of Klein, however, he did not record an out, while walking one.

The Wildcats outhit the Potters, 11-3.

“I’m really happy with everybody,” Collopy said. “We are starting to resemble and offensive team. That’s important. We have to be able to move runners. The kids know it. We focus on it. At the end of the game, it is not about what you did, but it is about how many runs we scored and how many runs the opponent scored. We have to have quality at-bats. We have to be able to get runners on, we have to be able to move them around and we have to be able to score runs.”

Rogers led off the second inning by getting hit by a pitch before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nolan Haught. Then, Rogers scored on a single to right by Evan Kimmerle to give Edison a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Xavier Haught, who led off the first with a single, got things started with a single to center, and the catcher ended up scoring on an RBI single by Kyle Long to extend the Wildcats’ advantage out to 2-0. After a groundout, Brady Haught singled to center to plate Long to make the score 3-0.

The Potters had an opportunity to close the gap in the third, however, the Edison defense came up with a big play to keep East Liverpool off the scoreboard. Shallcross led off with a single, and he moved up to second on an error. Dre Brown followed with a single to center, however, Long threw home and nailed Shallcross at the plate to keep the visitors from Columbiana County off the scoreboard. Rogers was able to get out of the inning thanks to his seventh strikeout of the game and a groundout.

Edison increased its advantage in the fourth. After having a baserunner thrown out on an attempted steal, Santino Auteri launched a solo home run to left field to make it a 4-0 ballgame.

The visitors got two runners on in the sixth as Brown singled for the second time and Elliot Fitch reached on an error, however, Dylan Long, who came on in relief of Rogers at the beginning of the inning, ended the inning with his third strikeout to keep the Blue-and-White off the scoreboard.

Edison ended the game in the sixth.

Nolan Haught led off with a single, and he advanced to second after Chase Freeman, who singled earlier in the game, walked. Both runners then stole a base, and the pair scored on a single by Auteri to make the score 6-0. Xavier Haught and Kyle Long were both hit by pitches to load the bases before Kayden Russell drew a walk to plate Freeman making it 7-0. Then, Bryson Cunningham, who was batting for Brady Haught, singled home Kyle Long and Xavier Haught making it 9-0 putting the Wildcats on the verge of ending the game early.

The ending came when Dylan Long singled to center scoring Russell to make the score, 10-0.

Edison ended the game with two errors, while the Potters did not commit one.

“We have some things we have to clean up,” Collopy said. “Those things happened for whatever reason. We are going to continue to work on the mental part of the game. We have to be ready to make the routine play. We have to be ready to make the routine play at every position. You have to make the routine plays, you want your pitchers to throw strikes and you want your hitters to put the ball in play. That is easier said than done, but if you do those three things you are going to win games. You have to do two of those three things to give yourself a chance.”

Edison is scheduled to play Beaver Local at 5 p.m. today at home.

East Liverpool is slated to play Toronto at 5 p.m. today on the road at the Knight Baseball Complex. The game will be a part of Multiple Sclerosis Day in honor of Don Perkins, who is the brother of Toronto head coach Brian Perkins, a graduate of East Liverpool.

Edison 10, East Liverpool 0

East Liverpool 000 000 – 0 3 0

Edison 012 106 – 10 11 2

EAST LIVERPOOL (0-1): Shallcross LP (2 1/3IP, 1K, 0BB), Klein (3IP, 0K, 2BB), Kinsey (0IP, 0K, 1BB) and Duke.

EDISON (1-0): Rogers (5IP, 9K, 2BB), D. Long (IP, 3K, 0BB) and X. Haught. X. Haught 2S; K. Long S, RBI; Russell RBI; B. Haught S, RBI; Cunningham S, 2RBI; D. Long S, RBI; N. Haught S; Kimmerle S, RBI; Freeman S, Auteri S, HR, 2RBI.