White River Junction — Upper Valley Nighthawks players and coaches have been saying for weeks that their team is due for something good to happen. Too many losses, too many unfortunate miscues, too much bad luck for things not to, eventually, swing the other way.

It took back-to-back losing streaks and a two-day NECBL All-Star break for the Nighthawks to cash in.

Upper Valley unloaded its frustration on the Winnipesaukee Muskrats on Wednesday night, never looking back after a quick six runs in the first two innings en route to a 9-2 win at Maxfield Sports Complex.

“It feels like this team is coming together more,” Nighthawks first baseman Charlie Concannon said. “We’re definitely having a lot more fun. I think that’s going to lead to the results that we want.”

Concannon and Zack Canada each hit homers in the early-inning rally, the first multiple-home run night by the Nighthawks at Maxfield this summer. Upper Valley previously had only one home run at home this season, a grand slam by Joey Denison on June 26.

“We came out swinging the bats,” Hawks head coach Nick Cenatiempo said. “We took advantage of some of their mistakes. Overall, I liked our aggressiveness. I liked how we played.”

“I like the way we’re playing,” he added. “Our mentality is right. We’re ready to play. Like I told you before, I think we’re due to get hot. I like the effort we’re playing with; we just have to keep on going tomorrow.”

Upper Valley still remains in last place in the NECBL’s Northern Division and six games behind the division-leading Sanford Mainers, tonight’s opponent at Maxfield, with Cordes Baker on the mound.

But with only 10 games left in the team’s inaugural season, the final stretch already has a different feel.

For the players, the energy is back in the dugout. Postgame celebrations last twice as long. The good feeling from the beginning of the season is back, along with a sense of entitlement that’s making the Nighthawks feel like they’re owed something.

“Absolutely (we’re due),” Concannon said. “Due for a winning streak, due for having good at-bats strung together. The pitchers have been pitching real well, but I think the team is due to really get hot.”

That feeling carried over into Wednesday’s game. Houston Mabray went 6 innings and earned the victory for Upper Valley, 24 hours after Cenateimpo was forced to use eight pitchers in a split-decision doubleheader against the Keene Swamp Bats on Tuesday. Nick Jones and Dakota Edwards pitched 2 innings of relief, recording three combined strikeouts.

“You kind of see what’s going on, even the other night, when we’re not playing well (game one vs. Keene, an 8-7 walk-off loss), the effort is there,” Cenatiempo said. “You look at how well Houston pitched tonight. Nick Jones did a nice job, Dakota did a nice job. We’re going to be fine, I think we’ve just got to keep going.”

Trent Leimkuehler started the scoring spree with an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning that brought Alex Hanson home from second base. Canada, batting .241 this summer, followed with a two-run blast.

Concannon joined the party with a lead-off homer in the second inning, his third of the season. Lukas Ray and Austin Embler each scored later on in the second inning off errors by the Winnipesaukee defense. Just like that, Upper Valley was off and running, holding on to a 6-0 lead. The Nighthawks are 8-2 this season when scoring first.

The Muskrats never came close to threatening Upper Valley’s lead, adding a run in the fifth inning and another in the seventh.

Denison drove in two runs, Hanson and Al Molina, in the seventh inning and another in the eighth inning, Austin Embler, to give the Nighthawks all the insurance they needed.

Denison, Upper Valley’s lone All-Star starter, now leads the NECBL with 28 RBIs and 50 hits and is second behind New Bedford’s Ryan Wolfserg with a .379 batting average through 33 games. The Troy University product was 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Molina, starting at shortstop on Wednesday night, was 3-for-5 with a run scored.

Hanson, the lead-off batter for the seventh straight game, was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two walks. Upper Valley amassed 12 hits and no errors against the Muskrats.

For Concannon, the feeling around the Nighthawks is much different than it was a week ago, when his team struggled to put it all together. The turnaround, he said, happened in Saturday’s 8-4 win against Sanford after Cenatiempo told the team to relax.

“We went through a spurt where we would get a lot of hits, but they weren’t timely hits,” Concannon said. “So now we’re connecting the dots a little bit. Especially when we score early, it’s a lot easier for the bottom half of the order to take after the top half of the order, keep hitting the guy around. We were able to get that pitcher (Winnipesaukee’s Ethan Gillis) out nice and early.”

“I would definitely say Sanford felt (different),” he added. “It seemed like everyone was having a lot more fun, just having a good time out there. At that point, we were losing so much that we just had to do something different.”

The Nighthawks play five straight games through Monday, starting tonight against the division-leading Mainers. Game time is 6:30 p.m.

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.