CHOCOWINITY — Darius Blackledge, Johannes Van Essendelft and Quentin Van Essendelft all came around to score for Terra Ceia in the top of the first inning on Monday. The three-run start propelled the Knights to a 12-2 win over TEACH — their third in a row to start the season.

After jumping out to an early lead, Austin Roscoe took the mound and fanned each of the three batters he faced, including a three-pitch at-bat for the third out. He went on to strike out six over three innings of work, and retired the first seven TEACH batters to step up.

“You give him the baseball and you know what you’re going to get,” Knights coach Roger Klaassen said of his ace.

As Roscoe kept the opposition in check, Terra Ceia added another run in each of the second and third frames. Van Essendelft plated Johannes Van Essendelft with a base hit through the left side. In the third, Tyler Hendrix led off with a double to left field. He moved into scoring position thanks to Shaiquan Moore’s sacrifice bunt, then scored on Brandon Cox’s groundout to second base.

A pair of errors by the Knights gave TEACH a chance to chip away at its 5-0 deficit in the bottom of the third. Cody Michelli and Ryan Kolibabek both found themselves in scoring position with two outs, but Roscoe fanned the next batter to escape unscathed.

“They have the desire to compete. That’s what it’s about,” Klaassen said. “They’re swinging the sticks, making plays when we have to, and they’re engaged the whole time. That’s all I expect.”

Roscoe and Quentin Van Essendelft traded placed in the fourth. Van Essendelft took the mound while Roscoe donned his catcher’s gear and backstopped him. He only faced eight batters between the fourth and fifth stanzas.

Hendrix and Moore scored for the Knights on a throwing error in the fifth. They went on to pour on five more in the top of the sixth. Blackledge led off with a single to right field. He scored on Van Essendelft’s base knock to left field. Hendrix plated the Van Essendelft duo with a double to left.

Moore extended Terra Ceia’s advantage to 12-0 when he singled through the left side to plate Roscoe and Hendrix.

“So far, I’ve been really pleased with the offensive output,” Klaassen said. “The guys in the middle of the lineup — Quentin, Austin, Tyler and even the top-two guys — they’re getting on base. I’m happy so far.”

Colby Chase fields a ball batted to him at shortstop. TEACH doesn’t have much experience on the mound, but the solid defense behind its pitchers has helped.TEACH showed signs of life in the sixth. Stephen Trainor and Colby Chase led off with consecutive base hits. They came across on back-to-back RBI knocks from Nick Jones and Avery Bowen.

While the late surge wasn’t enough for a comeback, it did give the winless TEACH club something to build on moving forward.

“Our goal, at the end of the year, is to get better and better,” TEACH coach Donell Albritton said. “We lost three pitchers (from last year), so everybody on the mound has never been on the mound before. I’m pleased with the effort. We’ll get better.”