Centralia baseball picked up its first run-rule victory against a good program on Friday.

The Panthers opened the season with a 14-4 five-innings win at Eugene, who finished second in Class 2 last year and has won three district championships in the past five years. They finished with 13 hits and allowed four hits while striking out 10.

Anthony Ford pitched four innings with seven strikeouts, three hits, three walks and one earned run. Grant Kendrick struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit and one unearned run in one inning. 

Cole Higginson stood out at the plate by going 2-for-3 with five RBIs, two runs and one home run. Oliver Bohlmeyer finished 2-for-3 with two runs and one home run, and Hank Lee had two RBIs. Kendrick, Cooper Gehring, Luke Waltemate and Chase Chancellor each had one RBI.

The Panthers scored nine runs in the first two innings, including six runs in the second inning. Waltemate kicked off the scoring with an extra-base hit in the first inning by hitting a RBI triple, and Bohlmeyer had an extra-base hit to start the second inning with a leadoff home run.

On Monday, Centralia won its home opener 8-3 against Montgomery County (2-2). The previous three meetings were decided by one run, with the Panthers winning two of them. Kendrick pitched four no-hit innings with five strikeouts and had two RBIs at the plate while Chase Kempker led with three RBIs.

Centralia plays at Class 6 Battle with Columbia Independent (2-1) at 5 p.m. today.