AUBURN — These back-to-the-future high school baseball bats might as well be microscopes.

They magnify and illuminate every error, leadoff walk, wild pitch and baserunning blunder in the scorebook.

Edward Little couldn’t overcome an assortment of those ancient diamond transgressions Friday afternoon in an otherwise exceptionally played 3-1 loss to Hampden at Pettengill Park.

“The biggie, whether you’re looking at it from an offensive or defensive standpoint, is that you still can’t afford to put the leadoff guy on base with a walk or an error,” EL coach Scott Annear said.

Hampden (2-0) scratched out only one hit against EL’s John Simpson through six innings, and Simpson’s pitchers’ duel with Logan Poirier was knotted at one.

But Fred Knight’s grounder to open the seventh turned into the Eddies’ fourth error of the game and opened the trap door. Pinch runner Matt Haws promptly stole second and scored on Matt Martin’s single to center field.

Martin got a relatively free ride to second, scampering there after Sam Ward’s swinging third strike escaped to the left of home plate.

Mike Ward put runners at the corners with a single, and No. 9 hitter Cam Libbey’s flare to right center furnished the insurance run.

“(The new bats) affect the big hitters,” Annear said. “Guys like me who always got the cheap hits are going to keep getting the cheap hits.”

EL (1-1) threatened when the ninth man in its order, Ben Johnston, beat out a bunt for his second hit of the day with one out.

Luke Farrago followed with a line drive to third baseman Matt Palmer, who fired to Knight at first to complete the Broncos’ third inning-ending double play of the game.

Palmer triggered all three. He stabbed Sean Ford’s floater and beat Simpson back to third for an unassisted gem to stifle a bases-loaded threat in the first.

An inning later, with runners at first and second, Palmer foreshadowed the game-ender by knocking down Farrago’s roller, stepping on the bag and firing to Knight.

That one contained the Eddies’ best offensive threat of the day to a single run.

“He gets a lot of those,” Poirier said of Palmer. “He’s a good player. He doesn’t make many errors. He had one all of last year.”

Poirier surrendered seven hits to Simpson’s four, but he walked only two and benefited from the Broncos’ error-free defense.

The tall right-hander credited second baseman Martin with noticing that he was dropping his elbow and forearm to a sidearm delivery.

After making the adjustment and going over-the-top, Poirier allowed only three hits from the third inning on. He retired the leadoff hitter in each frame.

“He definitely got stronger as the game went on,” Hampden coach McLean Poulin said.

EL backed Mike Hammond’s leadoff walk and stolen base with singles by Gage Clavet and Johnston for a 1-0 lead in the second.

Nick Rodgerson walked and swiped second to christen the Hampden fourth. He moved up to third on a deep out to right by Palmer. Knight’s sacrifice fly to center tied it.

The Eddies’ defense atoned for a rocky start to the fifth.

Sam Ward reached on an error, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Mike Ward missed the ensuing squeeze bunt, and third baseman Farrago’s tag punctuated the rundown.

“We like to be aggressive on the basepaths,” Poulin said. “The bunts weren’t really working for us today. We had to get it done with the stolen bases.”

Johnston and Nate Blais each went 2-for-3 for EL, which faces a road trip to Skowhegan today.

“You can’t point a finger at any one thing,” Annear said. “We hit the ball hard and they made a lot of plays. It wasn’t that we flat-out booted any or had guys out of position.”

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