The Tamaqua Blue Raiders baseball team finally opened up its season on Thursday after multiple postponed games due to field conditions and inclement weather.

One would maybe expect the Raiders to be a little rusty, but that was certainly not the case as they cruised to a 10-0 Schuylkill League Division 1 victory over Jim Thorpe.Tamaqua looked in mid season form right from the onset. The Raiders scored four runs on four hits to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.A lead-off double by the 2014 Times News Player of the Year Bo Rottet got things started. Brett Kosciolek, the 2013 TN Player of the Year, knocked Rottet in with an RBI single. Matt Minchhoff added a two-run homer."It was great to get our bats going early on in the season," said Rottet, who had four hits in four trips to the plate. "We've been chomping at the bit to get on the field and I think all of us played pretty good baseball today."I don't think anyone would argue that pitching will be the most important part of the 2015 season with the amount of games that will played in such a short amount of time.The Raiders showcased on Thursday that they could have a very deep pitching staff, not even pitching aces Kosciolek and Rottet against the Olympians.Tamaqua pitchers Brady Akins and Harold Moll combined to pitch quite a gem, giving up just one hit and zero runs on the day."I'm welcoming my new role this season as a pitcher," said Akins. "We have a lot of guys on our team that are good pitchers and I'm just happy to be a part of this team. I was also pumped that I was able to help out today."Tamaqua added three more runs in third, one run in the fourth, and two runs in sixth to close out the ball game.Connor Hartung had an impressive day at the plate for the Raiders with three hits and two RBIs, including a double. Owen Bates added two hits, while Zach Coleman, Jake Humes, and Ed Titus all contributed with RBIs. Freshman Thad Zuber and Casey Rother added hits as well."We knew today was going to be a challenge for us, but our approach at the plate just needs to be better," said Jim Thorpe coach Derick Reis. "When you play a team like this with so much talent, you have to play more focused baseball. We just need to keep working and start playing better baseball against the top tier teams."For the back-to-back District 11 Champion Raiders expectations are high and there's no better way to get the season started with a dominant win."I'm very happy with how we played today," said Tamaqua coach Jeff Reading. "This was our first game and that was Jim Thorpe's fourth, so I was glad with how well we hit the ball and with how well we pitched. We know how important depth is this season and we think we have a pretty deep team. We just have to keep working and playing good baseball."Tamaqua 403 102 - 10 17 2Jim Thorpe 000 000 - 0 1 1Akins, Moll (4), and Bates, Rother (6). Porembo, Carroll (4), and Carroll. W- Akins; L- Porembo. HR: Minchhoff (1st, one on)