WINDSOR — Whether with its bats or its arms, the Hartford High baseball team was firing on all cylinders Saturday morning, securing its first win of the season via mercy rule.
The Canes threw a combined no-hitter and put up 12 runs on nine hits to blank Southern Vermont League rival Windsor, 12-0, in five innings.
Junior Wyatt Chambers started for Hartford and threw three scoreless, hitless innings, striking out 10 Yellow Jackets.
Senior Lucas Schwartz and freshman Gavin Spinella each threw one inning in relief, each tallying two strikeouts.
“It feels great,” Chambers said of getting the squad’s first win of the season. “Big league game for us, cross-town rival, it’s always great to come out and get a nice win over them… great day for us.”
The Canes took an early 2-0 lead through two innings on an RBI single from Chambers in the first and another from senior Tate Mosenthal in the second.
But coach Bill Vielleux said his team was “slow getting off the bus.”
“That’s usually the thing with Saturday games — it’s hard to get off the bus. We put up two runs in the first two innings, and then we finally started adjusting to their pitching. We hit the ball pretty decently — obviously pitched very well, throwing the combined no-hitter,” he said.
The Canes scored four runs in the third on RBI singles from junior Cody Hathorn and freshman Quincy Moreno, a sacrifice fly from senior Rich Rosenbeck and a Windsor fielding error.
Hartford added two more runs in the fourth to go up 8-0 as Windsor continued to have no answers offensively.
The Canes piled on in the fifth with four more runs. Sophomore Owen Jenks drove in a run on a groundout, Schwartz singled in two and Hathorn doubled home another to make it 12-0.
Facing the mercy rule, Windsor needed to cut the deficit to nine to extend the game, but Spinella ended it — getting the first batter to line out and striking out the final two looking.
Hartford moves to 1-1 and will travel to U-32 (0-0) on Saturday at 11 a.m.
“1-1 start, I’m happy with (it) — get the first win out of the way and then go from there,” Vielleux said.
Windsor (0-2) hosts Green Mountain Union on Tuesday with first pitch at 4:30 p.m.
