MANCHESTER — The Oxbow High baseball team was, in head coach Shawn French’s words, “a little awestruck” when first stepping onto the field at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium on Sunday.

Those feelings quickly faded when the Olympians (0-5) allowed 21 runs in the first inning, taking all the intrigue out of a contest that ended up a 29-0, five-inning loss to Blue Mountain at the home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The game followed the Fisher Cats’ afternoon contest against the Reading Fightin Phils, which both high school teams attended before taking over the dugouts.

“Every few years, we try to do something,” French said. “We’ve gone to Cooperstown (N.Y.), we’ve come here, we’ve played at a field in Maine, just to give the kids the experience.”

Although Oxbow and Blue Mountain are both in Vermont, they were still able to use the stadium through a program the Fisher Cats run allowing high school teams to play there. French, in his 24th season with the Olympians, has taken his teams to Manchester before, among other prestigious venues.

The game itself was over essentially before it started — the first 14 Bucks batters reached base safely, and Blue Mountain’s Evan Dennis hit two inside-the-park home runs in the first inning alone. Oxbow used three pitchers to get through the opening frame, an inning in which all but one of the Bucks’ starting nine batted three times. The Olympians were held hitless by five Blue Mountain pitchers, drawing five walks and striking out 13 times.

“We’re a pretty young team, we’re having some growing pains,” French said. “It was obviously a disappointing outcome. We’re making a big list of things we need to work on in practice. The baseball IQ needs to get better.”

Oxbow was just 3-12 last season, and with freshman making up half the roster this year, the Olympians have given up at least 10 runs in each of its first five games while scoring no more than three. The Bucks, meanwhile, were in the VPA Division IV state title game in 2021 and had won each of its first four games decisively this season before playing Oxbow.

In 2020, the Olympians had scheduled a game in Cooperstown, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, but that was canceled along with the rest of the season due to COVID-19. Oxbow has also played in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, at a 6,000-seat ballpark that has hosted minor league, independent and college summer teams. The team used this game as an opportunity to sell tickets and raise money for sweatshirts.

Olympians starting pitcher Andrew Emerson, one of Oxbow’s two seniors, was relieved after facing just five batters but perhaps summed up the experience best.

“Sucks to lose, but at least we’re playing on a cool field,” Emerson said. “It would be cool to do this every day.”

Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.