AUBURN — In the bottom of the first inning, Jarod Norcross-Plourde helped his own cause and Grant Hartley provided the insurance as the Edward Little defeated the Mt. Blue 9-0 in a Class A baseball game at Austin Field.

Norcross-Plourde, Monday’s starting pitching for EL, drove in the game-winning run with a double to score Tyler Blanchard from first. The Red Eddies loaded the bases as the fourth, fifth and sixth hitters drew walks or got hit by a pitch. After Norcross-Ploude came across the plate on a walk, it ended Ryan Nelson’s day as the Cougars  starter as he only recorded one out on 22 pitches.

“Driving in runs for yourself is always good,” Norcross Plourde said. “To do both (driving in runs and getting the win) is the best.”

Tom Wing came in relief where he struck out Maxx Bell to record the second out. The at-bat against Hartley started off good, but Hartley drove in Brandon Varney and Drew Lashua with a two-run double to make it 4-0.

Hartley, whoackknowledge he was in a slump, said he was seeing the ball better against the Cougars (0-3) on Monday.

“It was a really great feeling because I like to win and I really like to help my team win,”Hartley said. “A lot of these guys put in hard work and it’s great to win.”

Wing did his job of eating up innings the rest of the way.

“He did what we asked of him,” Mt. Blue coach Christian Boileau said of Wing. “We had some senior leadership there and he’s not a traditionally a pitcher, but her was a competitor today. He’s an athlete and he mixed in his pitches. He did a good job. It’s just Edward Little has a good hitting squad. Unfortunately at times, they came with some timely hitting and took advantage of that.”

On the mound, Norcross-Plourde was dominant as he went the full seven innings, striking out 11 and only allowing three hits and one walk.

“Jarod was on, I thought he was hitting his spots well,” EL coach Dave Jordan said. “He was pretty economical for a seven-inning game. I think he thrown in the mid 80s in terms of pitches. I was very pleased how he pounded the zone and attacked hitters.”

Hartley continued his hot day as he went 3-for-3 at the plate in the third inning. After Varney reached on a single, Hartley drove the ball into the jet stream as it just carried over the fence in left field for a two-run home run.

“The wind must have been blowing out to be honest,” Hartley said. “I thought I got a little under it. I am glad it went out.”

Just like he did in the top of the second, Norcross-Plourde struck out two in the top of the fourth inning.

The Red Eddies’ (3-0) offense provided two more runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning as Lashua had a lead-off home run to center field. Hartley drove in his fifth run of the game with a RBI single as Varney crossed the plate once again. Austin Cox provided the ninth run in the bottom of the sixth when Varney reached first on an error.

“Grant is a young guy who really works hard,” Jordan said. “It’s nice to see he had his efforts rewarded today in terms of getting good contact of the ball. He did a nice job of what his task was. That was, see the ball, hit the ball.”

The lone hiccup for Norcross-Plourde came in the top of the sixth inning when he, Wing and Ryan Pratt each got two-out singles.

After close games with Brewer and Hampden Academy to start the year, Jordan is glad for some breathing room on Monday.

“I will never turn away runs, that’s for sure,” Jordan said. “Even in the close games, the boys have been hitting the ball well. It was nice to see we put more runs on the board and string together a few more hits.”

[email protected]