Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Avalanche 18U’s Grayson Eicher follows through on a swing during Wednesday’s game against Athletix at Bob Cene Park in Struthers.

STRUTHERS — The Avalanche 18U baseball team lived up to its name on Wednesday. The bats made some noise early and picked up more and more momentum as time passed.

Avalanche scored in five out of six innings to beat Athletix 11-3 at Bob Cene Park.

“We did a good job today of adding on and put the pedal down,” Avalanche head coach Shawn Boyer said.

Grayson Eicher gave Avalanche an early scoring chance. He hit a leadoff double to left field in the bottom of the first. After a Nick Solderich walk, Jayden Amos clobbered a ball over the right-field fence that hit off the top of the third-base dugout on the next field for a three-run home run.

“Jayden, he struggled in high school, but he’s tearing the cover off the ball,” Boyer said. “He’s his own monster. He’s a great kid, great athlete and I expect big things from him the rest of the year.”

Luke Kollar gave Athletix its first scoring chance with a one-out double to center in the top of the second. Chandler Maurice drove him in with an RBI single. Anthony Perry made it a 3-2 deficit with an RBI bloop single to right, scoring Maurice.

Athletix loaded the bases after a pair of walks, and Perry scored on a fielding error to tie the game at 3 with two outs.

Eicher recorded his second double in the home half of the third, shooting the ball down the left-field line. He advanced to third on a fielder’s choice, and Amos picked up his fourth RBI with a groundout to shortstop to score Eicher, putting Avalanche ahead 4-3.

Avalanche increased its lead to 5-3 in the fourth when Ivan Rudiak plated Rocky Serafino on an RBI single down the left-field line.

Avalanche then loaded the bases in the fifth, and Serafino drew a walk to force home an RBI, pushing the lead to 6-3.

Athletix had some chances in the middle innings, but the bats couldn’t come through and cut into the lead.

“We’re just not hitting,” Athletix head coach Mike Cefalde said. “We’re 8-2 in the league — overall, I think we’re 11-2 — and we’ve been in a slump all year.

“These are good ballplayers. Some of them are already in college, most of them are going to school. We just put too much pressure on ourselves. We just gotta relax and play the game.”

The bases were loaded again for Avalanche to start the sixth. Blake Rottman drove in a pair with a single to center, and JJ McBride scored on a throwing error. Solderich added a one-out double to left field, and Amos drove in his fifth RBI with a double into the left-center gap.

Amos’ RBI double pushed the Avalanche lead to 11-3 and was the final run of the game.

The game was called in the bottom of the sixth around 7:30 p.m. because Avalanche had a game against A2Z at 8 p.m.

Kayden Wygant picked up the win for Avalanche. After giving up three runs early, he settled in and held Athletix scoreless until he was relieved to start the sixth inning.

Couple Wygant’s pitching and the consistent scoring, and the Avalanche buried Athletix.

“Kayden’s been pitching great all year,” Boyer said. “He’s had every quality start. We haven’t gotten the hits behind him. Today, we rallied.”