COCHRANTON — The Eisenhower Knights dropped their season opener to Cochranton 15-5 in Region 3 baseball Monday.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 10-1 lead and the Knights could not recover.

Cochranton led 3-0 before Eisenhower got on the board. The Knights’ Shawn Pascuzzi then hit a deep fly ball, which allowed Aiden Nichols to tag up and score from third base to narrow the gap to 3-1.

The Cardinals would add two more runs in their half of the inning and then break the game open by adding five more runs in the fourth inning to break the game open.

There were some bright spots for the Knights. Senior shortstop Johnny Palmieri went 3 for 4 with three singles, three stolen bases. Senior third baseman Camron Jakubczak and Griffin Williams both went 2 for 3. Senior Cole Kellogg had a triple and an RBI for Eisenhower.

The Knights left nine runners on base and committed eight errors in the game.

“We came out with some first-game jitters which allowed them to jump out to a big lead that was just too big to overcome,” Eisenhower head coach Alan Jackson said. “I thought Johnny (Palmieri) had a nice game; Kellogg’s triple was sweet. Once we settled down we did OK, we just have to eliminate the mental mistakes from the start.”

The Knights are back in action Wednesday at home when they welcome the Maplewood Tigers to Werner Field.