AUBURN — On a cold day, a pitcher who works quickly and efficiently is the best friend of fielder and fan alike.

Edward Little’s Mike Hammond was the most popular person at Austin Field Wednesday after throwing just 63 pitches in a three-hit shutout of Lawrence.

Hammond needed a little help from his friends, too. After some frustrating squanders, Brandon Knapp finally broke the ice with a bases-clearing double that was more than enough to give the Red Eddies their first victory of the season, 4-0, at Austin Field.

Pounding the strike zone with his fastball, Hammond fanned two and didn’t walk anybody. The Bulldogs had just five at-bats of four pitches or more.

“I knew they were going to be somewhat aggressive, so I just had to be aggressive back at them,” Hammond said. “I just had good placement, throwing strikes.”

“We put a lot of hard-hit balls in play and they made the plays,” said Lawrence coach Rusty Mercier, a 1989 graduate of Livermore Falls High School. “I felt like if we had scored early — we had a couple of opportunities — we might have had a different game.”

Lawrence’s best chance came in the second inning, but a nice 3-6 double play started by first baseman Michael Lawrence rendered the subsequent dropped fly ball and Spencer Folsom double harmless.

EL (1-2) loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Lawrence (1-2) starter Cody Martin caught the next two batters looking.

Martin walked the bases loaded with two out in the third, but escaped again with Elijah Roe’s fly out to center. He walked two more in the fourth but wiggled out of that jam with a fly ball to center, this one by Hammond.

“It’s still early in the season. (Hitting with runners on) just comes. You’ve just got to keep at it,” Hammond said. “Coach told us if we keep getting opportunities with the bases loaded, then it’s bound to happen. And once it starts happening, it’s not going to stop.”

EL loaded the bases again in the fifth with nobody out, chasing Martin from the game in favor of reliever Cole Robinson, who promptly struck out the first two batters he faced.

Knapp worked the count to 3-and-2, which allowed the runners to get a head start as he stroked a double into the gap in left-center.

“That was a fastball, the second fastball of the at-bat. I had a feeling that’s what he was going to throw,” Knapp said. “It felt great.”

“You definitely like pitching with the lead,” Hammond said. “Once you have a lead, you can basically do what you want.”

Hammond had his way with the Bulldogs, retiring the last eight batters in the game, helped by a leaping grab by 6-foot-5 shortstop Lew Jensen to rob Derek Bowen of his bid for a third hit.

“Defenses play well when they have a pitcher throwing strikes one after another,” EL coach Scott Annear said. “We felt very confident that Mikey could throw lots and lots of strikes.”

Forty-eight of Hammond’s 63 pitches were strikes. He only threw two balls, and 13 pitches total, to the last eight hitters.

Evan Raymond added an RBI double in the sixth.