BUCYRUS — The Wynford Royals stumbled out of the gate the first weekend of the season when they lost a doubleheader to Fredericktown.

They quickly got their balance and it’s been nothing but victories since — five straight, all in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.

The latest victims were the Bucyrus Redmen. Wynford brought out the lumber and got a nifty pitching performance from Sam Collene to down its rival to the east, 14-0, in five innings at Veterans Memorial Field.

“Sam’s pitched good the last three outings,” Wynford coach Tom Smith said. “He struggled his first day and since then, he’s pitched great.”

Great may not be the most precise word to describe Collene’s effort against the Redmen. The sophomore right hander struck out nine and walked one, surrendering just a single to Nick Middleton in the fourth inning. Collene faced one over the minimum in his five innings.

“We knew he’d be right around the plate the whole day,” Bucyrus coach Sean Maudsley said of Collene. “So, we had to be ready pitch one through pitch five, six, seven, whatever it was. He’s not going to walk many guys. He does a real nice job of hitting his spots. He’s a real good pitcher.”

Collene retired the first nine Redmen hitters until Middleton led off the fourth with a single that dropped just in front of a diving Cody Taylor in center field. Middleton was quickly erased on a double play and the only other Bucyrus (2-4, 2-2 N10) baserunner was on a two-out walk to Ki Powell in the fifth.

“Our defense has been playing great too,” Smith said. “So, that gives the pitchers confidence to throw strikes. It makes their job easier.”

The Wynford (5-2, 5-0) offense scored all the runs Collene would need in the first inning off Redmen starter Kael Scott.

Leyton Appleby and Taylor led off with walks — the only two free passes by Bucyrus pitching for the game. With one out, Grant McGuire was safe on a fielder’s choice, forcing Taylor.

A throwing error scored a run for the Royals before Avery Langenderfer single home two more for a 3-0 lead before Bucyrus had even come to the plate.

“We had a chance to get out of it there,” Maudsley said. “They had two guys on, we had a ground ball that we made an error on — which is fine, it was a hard-hit ground ball. It was just that the throw was a little off. If we had got out of that inning, it could have been different.”

Wynford added four runs in the second inning with three hits coming from Appleby, Dylon Robinson and Cobey Allen, to go with two more Redmen errors.

“We’re hitting the ball so that makes things easier on the pitcher too, when you jump out to an early lead” Smith said. “That’s our goal every game. Just put the ball in play and then take advantage when the other team makes a mistake and so far, it’s worked pretty good in league play.”

A four-run Wynford fourth was highlighted by McGuire’s double and three singles. The Royals tacked on three more in the fifth with the big hit a triple by Taylor.

“They hit the ball better than I thought they would,” Maudsley said. “They really put the ball in play and hit it on the nose and hit a lot of liners.”

Scott was the victim two unearned runs of the 11 he surrendered in his four innings. He struck out four and walked two and was touched for eight hits.

Robinson had three singles to lead the Royals’ offense. Zach Harer added two singles. Taylor had a triple and McGuire a double. Appleby, Spencer Miller, Langenderfer and Allen singled. Only Collene did not hit safely for Wynford.

“This is a rivalry game also,” Smith said. “That was the thing we talked about — not having a letdown because we had played pretty well the last 3-4 games.”

“I was worried about Kael today, because it’s been two years,” Maudsley said. “He’s pitched for us before, but he’s never been on three days rest. He’s been pitching all winter so I’m confident his arm’s alright, conditioned enough to do it.”

“We just play one game at a time,” Smith said. “This Bucyrus team just came off two wins, so they had a little momentum. We’ll try to keep this going next week.”

“We have to learn to put the ball in play and get runners on base,” Maudsley said. “That’s going to be one of our keys. Two of our biggest keys are we’ve got to get runners on base, and we’ve got to field the ball. If we get those things going, we’ll be good. We’ll get better each day.”

Box score

Wynford    340 43X X     14   11    0

Bucyrus     000 00X  X      0     1     6

LP: Kael Scott (4 SO, 2 W)

HR: None.

Triples: (W) Cody Taylor.

Doubles: (W) Grant McGuire.

Multiple hits: (W) Dylon Robinson 3, Zach Harer.

Records: Wynford 5-2, 5-0 N10; Bucyrus 2-4, 2-2 N10

Next: Van Buren at Wynford, Saturday; Bucyrus at Lucas, Saturday.