Ryan Callahan

Maryville High School baseball coach Jim Gaylor still has concerns about his senior-laden but relatively inexperienced team.

Not that he was dwelling on them too much Monday night.

The Rebels rallied from a six-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning for a season-opening, 13-12 victory over crosstown rival Heritage at Maryville College’s Scotland Yard.

First baseman Patrick Johnson, who returned from a stomach illness to drive in the winning run with a two-out, three-run double to right-center field, was one of six seniors in the starting lineup for Maryville (1-0, 1-0 District 4-AAA).

But that number is a little misleading, Gaylor said. The Rebels have only three returning positional starters playing exactly where they were last season.

“We’re just green in a lot of positions,” he said. “There’s a lot of defensive stuff they’re learning every day, and discipline at the plate and those kinds of things. They know they’ve got to work at it on a continuing basis for us to get anywhere close to where we would like to get.

“We’re not there now, but that’s certainly a fun way to start the season.”

The seventh-inning comeback against the Mountaineers (0-1, 0-1) effectively nullified a shaky start from Maryville’s youthful pitching staff.

Right-hander Tommy Wilkinson, a sophomore, earned the start in the opener and allowed six earned runs over four innings. Right-hander Ryan Dalton and left-hander Drew Tinker, both seniors, gave up a combined six runs in three innings of relief.

Junior right-hander Kaleb Moore, who will start Thursday at South-Doyle, is perhaps the most battle-tested member of the starting rotation. Gaylor said Moore worked all of “maybe 10 or 15 innings” last season.

“The starters,” Gaylor added, “they’re all new.”

A memorable, come-from-behind win to start the season helped the Rebels forget about their shortcomings.

“This really makes us think about what all we can do for the rest of the season,” said Johnson, who finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a walk after missing more than four innings because of his illness.

“It really gets us pumped for the next game.”

Heritage also has a few reasons to be excited, even after a crushing defeat.

Coach Robbie Bennett’s lineup, which looked almost identical to the one he used throughout last season, produced plenty of offense. The Mountaineers pounded out 15 hits and scored multiple runs in four different innings, building a 12-6 lead by the top of the seventh inning after spotting Maryville a four-run advantage in the first.

“We’ve got a lot of experience,” Bennett said. “We hit the ball good enough to win.”

Heritage starting pitcher Jordan Caughron settled down after giving up four runs on only one hit in the first, cruising through three scoreless innings before giving up his sixth and final run in the sixth inning.

The bullpen wasn’t quite as reliable.

Side-armed right-hander Daniel Brinley got Maryville’s Alex McCloud to line into an inning-ending double play in the sixth before allowing five runs in the seventh. Tyler Edmonds inherited a 12-10 lead and was charged with the tying and go-ahead runs.

The Mountaineers also made two errors. One of them — an errant throw by sophomore catcher Brandon Malone with two outs in the seventh — kept Maryville’s late rally alive.

“Defensively, we just have to know that we can make the plays,” Bennett said. “We have to have confidence in each other, and they have to have confidence in themselves to make plays. We’ve just got to believe we can win.

“They know what they need to do to get better.”