BROOMFIELD >> Early-season baseball games can provide teams with the ability to iron out the wrinkles left by the exit of the previous senior class. Legacy seems to be handling the transition just fine.

On a beautifully sunny Saturday morning and afternoon, the second-ranked Lightning and their bats caught fire in the later innings of just their third game of the season to defeat visiting ThunderRidge 9-3.

After starting off their schedule a bit rocky — with an 8-1 loss to Valor Christian — the Lightning offense has turned into a landslide of its own. In just the last two contests, Legacy has outscored its opponents 27-11.

“We graduated 13 guys,” head coach Ty Giordano said. “We got 13 new guys who are trying to figure out how to play hard for one another, still. This is obviously a talented team. There are a lot of talented teams. We just got to figure out how to continue to push to play closer together as a team and start to play hard for one another. We’re learning that process. It’s going to take some time. Last year’s team had so many returners that it just kind of came naturally. There are just so many people that we’re trying to replace from last year’s team.”

Saturday’s contest provided a microcosm into Legacy’s short ride through the spring season, as the Lightning struggled early to ignite their offense against ThunderRidge’s starting pitcher, Lincoln McVicker.

The Grizzlies got on the board first with a walked-in run in the top of the second inning, but that lead didn’t last too long. Senior designated hitter Marcus Romero responded in style when, in the bottom of the third inning, he launched a solo bomb over the left field wall to tie the game up.

Another inning passed with no scores to break the stalemate, but things escalated quickly after that. Romero added to his stock at the plate when, in the bottom of the fifth, he hit a ball into left field to allow Ethan Pagenkopp to sprint home. Pagenkopp barely beat out the throw.

Senior catcher Derek Olsen wasn’t about to let Romero have all the RBI fun. In the very next at-bat, Olsen propelled his own moonshot over the left-center field wall to drive in three more scores.

“I’ve been putting in the work, working on hitting inside pitches, outside pitches. My approach finally paid off,” Romero said. “I started off with an RBI, then Derek hits a bomb. It’s the energy we feed off of. Someone would get a hit and then we’d explain what the pitcher has, relay the news, and then just keep continuing our hit party.”

What was once a 1-1 tie quickly turned into a 5-1 lead for the Lightning, and the contest unraveled even more for the Grizzlies after that. Pagenkopp began the scoring initiative in the bottom of the sixth, but he may not have expected his short bunt to end in two runs scored. An error at third base sent the ball flying into left field to allow a pair of Bolts to come home.

The aftermath of that mistake continued through the next two at-bats with an RBI double from senior shortstop Brandon Sanchez and another run scored before sophomore right fielder Ethan Sanchez was thrown out at second.

The Lightning allowed the Grizzlies to score two more before out three in the top of the seventh. Now 2-1, Legacy will look to keep the winning streak alive when it hosts Rock Canyon on Monday.

“I’m super proud about how we’ve competed in the latter part,” Giordano said. “We didn’t start this week off very well against Valor. The last two games, we picked it up a little bit so I think we’re starting to stride in the right direction and that’s a good thing.”