ERIE >> A team’s camaraderie can make or break a program in a game like baseball, where every single cog in the offensive and defensive machines needs to work at full capacity to stay on top. Through the early spring season, Erie has been firing on all cylinders and staying undefeated among Colorado competition.

That theme held true in the Tigers’ 10-5 home victory over Centaurus on Saturday, where a varsity newcomer, senior first baseman Kodie Shafter, put together an impressive stat line with two extra-base hits, two RBIs and a run scored.

This year, he said the conditions are just right for a strong season, thanks in part to the squad’s seven returning starters and 16 seniors. Last year, he only swung up from junior varsity for three games.

“I feel like we have really good team chemistry on this team because we’re all friends outside of this, and we all know each other, and we all hang out,” Shafter said. “Even though we have an old team, it’s good because we’re all friends, and the attitude of practice and attitude in the games are really good.

“It definitely is a change from JV to varsity, just the competition level and the mentality. I went up there and wasn’t playing with confidence, and so that was something I worked on in the offseason, was just my mental game and being confident in myself.”

There was plenty of confidence to go around for the Tigers, who started the fireworks on offense with a three-run double from Hudson Dageenakis in the bottom of the second inning. The Warriors deployed a full response in the next frame, first scoring on a two-run double from Ben Sehnert before Will Pauletto tapped in the tying run in the next at-bat.

The Warriors, an inning later, sped out in front with a Zach Holshey sacrifice fly to take a 4-3 advantage, but that was short-lived. The Tigers chipped in four more runs in three consecutive at-bats — including Shafter’s two-run double — to swing the momentum irrevocably in their favor and take a 7-4 lead in the bottom of the fourth.

Centaurus managed just one more score, on a Pauletto base hit in the top of the fifth, but Erie shut it down after that, courtesy of a Ronin Ward triple, a Taylor McMaster sac fly and an Austin Muir base hit that all yielded one more run apiece before the game’s end.

The Tigers improved to 6-2 on the season, save for two losses to teams from Arizona and Oregon, while the Warriors fell to 4-5 and 3-3 against in-state teams.

Centaurus, for its part, returned a much younger team after losing a significant number of seniors.

Senior left-handed pitcher Zack Young, the team’s ace, brought talent back to the mound with appearances in five of the nine games that the Warriors have taken part in this year.

He threw three innings against the Tigers and allowed three hits and three unearned runs while striking out three batters.

He believes that his team’s early-season showing bodes well for what the rest of the spring may bring.

“I think even though we lost a lot of dudes, we didn’t lose any energy. The guys this year are all super humble when we play together better, so our chemistry this year is better,” Young said. “It shows that we’re going to be facing good teams like this the whole league, and we’re going to have to be super good at the little things like small ball and throwing strikes and making plays if we want to compete this year.”

The Tigers will next host Greeley West on Monday, while the Warriors hit the road to Holy Family on Thursday.