The Chester Yellow Jackets baseball team broke away from a 4-4 tie in the fourth inning by outscoring Steeleville 10-1 over the next three innings for a 14-5 season opening win Monday.
Chester scored the 14 runs on 16 hits and took advantage of four Steeleville errors.
The Yellow Jackets fired the opening salvo in the bottom of the first inning, scoring two runs on three hits, while the Steeleville defense contributed with two errors.
Caleb Arbeiter drove in the game’s first run with a double to score Zach Lochhead, who opened the game with a triple. Chester added another run in the first frame when Jeremy Wahl’s hit was mishandled by Steeleville, allowing Arbeiter to score from third.
Chester increased its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second inning, as Arbeiter came through in the clutch once again, as he drove home another run with a one-out single.
The Steeleville offense, facing live pitching for the first time this season, found some rhythm in the fourth, scoring four runs on four hits, while taking advantage of two Chester errors.
Nick Potter got the Warriors on the board with a one-out RBI single to score Luke Kilgore. Seth Troue followed up Potter with a single to plate two more runs to tie the game up at 3-3. Darin Winkelman’s RBI single gave Steeleville its first lead of the game.
The lead was short lived, as the Jackets scored one run on one hit to tie the game up 4-4.
Lochhead led the inning off with a triple, his second of the game, and later scored on a wild pitch.
In the fifth, Chester took total control scoring four runs for an 8-4 advantage. The Warriors added a single run in the top of the sixth before the Yellow Jackets secured the win with six runs in the bottom of the inning en route to the nine-run decision.
Arbeiter picked up the win in relief of starting pitcher Justin Eggemeyer.
Lochhead finished the game going 3-for-4 with a double, two triples and three runs scored. Arbeiter was 3-for-4 with three RBI, while Trever  Brant was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBI.
For Steeleville, Dustin Risinger picked up the loss, who came in to pitch in relief of the starter Kilgore.
Troue was 2-for-3 and Winkelman was 2-for-3 with an RBI to pace the Warriors’ attack.