JACKSON TWP — The game appeared to be over.

Pine-Richland baseball coach Kurt Wolfe knew better than that.

Although the Rams entered the bottom of the fourth inning with an 11-1 cushion over Seneca Valley, Wolfe was far from comfortable.

“They’ve won back-to-back WPIAL championships for a reason. They’re ranked No. 1 for a reason,” he explained. “They’re good — they’re not going to quit.”

The Raiders proved him right.

Seneca Valley clawed its way back and put the tying run at the plate in the sixth and seventh innings, but Pine-Richland held on for a 14-11 non-section win on a chilly Wednesday evening at Raider Field.

“There are some negatives and positives out of that game,” said SV coach Eric Semega. “The positive is we hit the ball just as well (as P-R did) today. We had some opportunities to actually steal this game away.”

However, the initial hole proved too deep.

The Rams (3-0) immediately pounced on Seneca Valley (0-1) with a three-run homer from Shea Sullivan and an RBI double off the bat of Jamie Switalski in the first inning.

Pine-Richland extended its lead to 7-0 and responded from SV’s initial run by tacking on four more in the top of the fourth for an 11-1 advantage.

“Every game you want to jump on them,” said Wolfe, “but when you’re playing the No. 1 team and back-to-back defending WPIAL champs, it’s even more essential to jump on them.”

The Rams didn’t muster an extra-base hit after the first inning, but capitalized on 12 walks and two hit batsmen from Raider pitching throughout the game.

“You’re going to win a lot of ballgames if you get guys on base,” said Wolfe. “They battled, had good approaches, good at-bats and really made their pitchers work.”

Zach Spangler was the first of five SV hurlers to take the hill and allowed five earned runs while walking four in 1 2-3 innings.

Troy Martin was next and gave up six runs — five earned — walked five and also lasted 1 2-3 innings.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a theme to what we can do on the mound this year,” said Semega.

Alex Hajduk, Bryce Schnatterly and Jason Martin combined to pitch the rest of the game. Schnatterly was charged with three runs, but struck out two.

The Raiders began to make a run at the Rams in the fourth when Spangler and Jason Martin had back-to-back singles, followed by an RBI double from Connor Coward and a Gianpaul Gonzalez sacrifice fly.

SV inched to within 11-5 after five innings, chasing Switalski — who started and went 4 2-3 innings — before P-R pushed its lead to 13-5.

The Raiders didn’t flinch, though, scoring five runs in the bottom half of the sixth to apply some pressure on the Rams.

Dan Barna ripped a two-RBI double down the right-field line, before Jon Dorogy belted an RBI double over the right fielder’s head. Five batters later, Coward came to the plate with the bases loaded trailing 13-10 with two outs, but lined out sharply to right.

P-R shortstop Daane Berezo — who finished 4-for-5 — battled with Martin in the seventh during an 11-pitch at-bat and delivered the Rams’ final run with an RBI single.

Gonzalez led off SV’s final frame with a single to left, followed by a double from Dan Lopresti. Valentine kept the Raiders alive with an RBI single, but Marcus Colella closed the game out for the Rams by striking out Spangler with runners on second and third.

“I’m proud of them,” said Wolfe. “They held it together and held off a very good team.”

Despite the season-opening loss, Semega was impressed by his team’s determination in the face of a large deficit.

“I was very happy with how our players never quit and they competed all the way to the end. If that continues all year long, that’s going to be a big bonus for us,” Semega said. “That says a lot about a team. Our pitching is going to get way better. If we keep that up, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

Pine-Richland 412 402 1 — 14 13 4

Seneca Valley 001 315 1 — 11 13 4

W: Jamie Switalski 4 2-3 IP (0K, 1BB). L: Zach Spangler 1 2-3 IP (2K, 4BB).

P-R: David Laylock 1B, 2-R, RBI; Daane Berezo 4-1B, 2-R, 2-RBI; Shane Heim 2-RBI; Shea Sullivan HR, 1B, 4-RBI, R; Jack Hudak 1B, R; Jamie Switalski 2-1B, 2-RBI, R; JT Riley 2-R; Andrew Nussbaum R; Nick Roth 1B, R; Joey Professori 2-1B, 2-RBI; Zack Hunkele 3-R

SV: Jon Dorogy 2B, 1B, 2-RBI, R; Donnie Valentine 1B, 2-RBI; Zach Spangler 1B, R; Jason Martin 1B, RBI, R; Carson Kessler 2-1B, R; Connor Coward 2B, 2-R, RBI; Gianpaul Gonzalez 1B, 2-R, RBI; Dan Lopresti 2B; Bryce Schnatterly 1B; John Harper R; Dan Barna 2-2B, 2-R, 2-RBI

Thursday: Seneca Valley at Moon, 4 p.m.