Over the first two Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B high school baseball games, Garrett Olson’s Morse Shipbuilders have come up against their opponents’ ace hurlers. The squad has struggled to find its groove at the plate in starting the season 0-2, and needed to repair the ship quickly.

On Tuesday at Kelley Field, the Shipbuilders didn’t exactly pound the baseball, finishing with just three hits, but Morse took advantage of four Mount View errors and a key two-run bases-loaded single by Ethan Winglass in producing a 5-3 victory.

On the hill, Morse hurler Dakota Jacobs certainly did his part, tossing six solid innings on three hits, two walks and two strikeouts. Tait Nygaard and Nick Doughty finished up in the seventh, with Doughty striking out the only Mustang (0-3) hitter that he faced for the save and a 1-2 Morse record.

“Dakota threw strikes and was getting ahead with his knuckleball,” said Olson, whose Shipbuilders are slated to visit Medomak Valley on Friday at 4 p.m. “You could tell they (Mount View hitters) were aware of the knuckleball, and he was able to sneak those fastballs by them. He kept his pitches low and they were chasing it.”

“I was just trying to get the strikes in there and hoping my defense would make plays, which they did,” said Jacobs, who threw 74 pitches and faced just one hitter over the minimum in his six innings of work. “We have had just one bad thing happen in each game. Today, we came back strong when we needed to. This was a great win and will pick up our spirits.”

Early lead

Keegan McDonough opened the home half of the first inning with a bad-hop single to right field. He stole second, moved to third on a groundball by Zach Holbrook and scored on a two-out Mount View error for a 1-0 Shipbuilders lead.

Wren singled for the Mustangs to open the second, but Morse catcher Josh McDougal threw him out at second attempting to steal. Jacobs retired the next six Mustang hitters, while Wren found his groove, setting down 10 of the next 11 Shipbuilders as the lead stayed 1-0.

Jacobs walked Donald Hustus with one out in the fourth, with Brody Gibbs pounding a single inside the first-base bag to tie the game. Gibbs tried for a double, but a solid relay from second baseman Holbook to shortstop McDonough was perfectly timed for the second out of the inning.

“That was huge. They scored a run, but we cleared the bases there,” said Olson. “They are doing the little things right. The hits will come.”

Those hits came in the fifth. Tied 1-1, a pair of Mount View errors opened the door. Holbrook dropped a bloop single into left field to load the bases, and Winglass drove the next pitch from Mustangs pitcher Wren into right-center field for a two-run single and a 3-1 lead. Both McDonough (1-for-3, two runs scored, two stolen bases) and Holbrook later beat throws to the plate on infield groundballs to make for a 5-1 Morse advantage.

“We still have some guys that need that confidence boost to get going, and they are learning to compete,” said Olson. “Yesterday, we lost a tough game (Tuesday’s 5-3 loss at Belfast). We didn’t do anything to shoot ourselves in the foot. We just need to pound out more than five runs in a game. We expect to face number one pitchers. We don’t have a number one. We have three number ones, and our defense is improving.”

Mount View made things interesting in the seventh. Nygaard walked three and allowed a long RBI double by Wren (2-for-3, RBI, run scored) to score Hustus (two walks, two runs). A wild pitch scored Wren to close the gap to 5-3, but Doughty picked up the save one batter later.

Wren threw 101 pitches, striking out six, walking one, hitting a batter and permitting three hits. Only two of the five runs Morse scored were earned.

Defensively, Morse was led by McDonough, who flawlessly made six solid plays as the Shipbuilders played errorless baseball.