Both the Mars and Pine-Richland baseball teams were looking for specific things from their matchup Friday afternoon at Kelly Automotive Park.

Mission accomplished for both.

The Planets got to see three arms that they will count on heavily this season on the mound. The Rams got to see how their vaunted lineup would stack up against some good pitching.

Pine-Richland's 5-4 win was almost secondary to what each team gained from the experience.

“This was our first game back since we were in Myrtle Beach,” said Mars coach Andy Bednar. “We wanted to win the game —we're not going to kid you about that — but we wanted to get our guys some work and we wanted to throw each guy two innings and we got that.”

Frank Craska got the ball in the first two innings for Mars (2-2) and was sharp at times, striking out three. But he also walked two and gave up five runs, including a pair of triples.

Bednar, though, said he isn't too concerned.

“That's a really good lineup they have over there,” Bednar said. “Those first five hitters, my gosh, I don't think I've seen anything like that in high school baseball for a long time.”

Those top five Pine-Richland hitters had five of the Rams' seven hits and drove in four runs.

Pine-Richland coach Kurt Wolfe said exposing his lineup to an array of pitchers trotted out by Mars can only help his team going forward.

“We're glad to see their arms, “Wolfe said. “Man, do they have some good arms. The first kid (Craska) threw great. We got to him, but that doesn't change that he's a heck of a pitcher.

“(Our hitters) have great approaches and they're disciplined and they wait for their pitch,” Wolfe added. “And they're driving it right now. We've had good approaches all year, but they're taking it to another level. It all starts with your approach.”

Mars' approach against a trio of Pine-Richland pitchers was to be aggressive at the plate.

The Planets banged out 10 hits, paced by a 3-for-4 day by Matt Fuller, and led 3-2 heading into the bottom of the second inning, but ran into a tad of bad luck and solid defense by the Rams.

Mars loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fourth inning, but Fuller hit into a hard-luck 1-4-6-3 double play, thanks to quick reflexes by Pine-Richland second baseman Troy Laneve after the chopper was deflected off pitcher David Eichenlaub's glove, and a stretch by first baseman Evan Homison.

“Our approach at the plate was good,” Bednar said. “We hit some balls hard, but we didn't always have anything to show for it.”

Will Bednar relieved Craska and struck out five in two innings. Shane Fox came in and fanned four in his two innings of scoreless relief.

“Shane looks like he's going to be one of our top starters,” Bednar added. “What he does well is he mixes three pitches and he probably throws three pitches for strikes better than anyone that we have. He may not throw as hard as our top two starters, but boy can he pitch. He did a good job for us in Myrtle Beach and he did a really good job today.”

Like Wolfe, Bednar was intrigued to see how his team stacked up against a quality opponent like Pine-Richland (5-0).

“It's always good to play a good team like Pine-Richland early on,” Bednar said. “It's a non-conference game, but we wanted to win, but these are the kind of games that prepare you for the end-of-the-season playoff games and section games.”

For Pine-Richland, it was a good litmus test for its first section game against Butler Monday night at Kelly Automotive Park.

“It was a good game right before a really tough Butler team,” Wolfe said. “We know they have some arms.”

Mars 210 001 0 — 4 10 1

Pine-Richland 230 000 x — 5 7 2

W: David Eichenlaub 3IP (0K, 3BB). L: Frank Craska 2IP (3K, 2BB).

Mars (2-2): Joey Craska 1B, Matt Fuller 3-1B RBI, Frank Craska 2-1B, Evan Homison 1B, Rowen Fletcher 2-1B 2B

Pine-Richand (5-0): Jacon Weinberg 3B RBI, Troy Laneve 3B 2-RBI, Matt Wood 1B 2B RBI, JD Armstrong 2B, Wesley Byrd 2-1B RBI