Photo by Kim North Barnesville’s Casey Carpenter delivers a pitch to the plate Wednesday against River at Memorial Park in Barnesville. The lefty struck out four, walked two and scattered four singles as the Shamrocks prevailed, 10-0, in five innings.

BARNESVILLE — It may be the first week of the season, but Barnesville baseball coach D.J. Butler likes what he has seen.

Not even the cool late March temperatures could cook off the red-hot Shamrocks on Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Park. They banged out 10 hits — nine singles and a double — and southpaw Casey Carpenter took care of things on the mound in a 10-0 shellacking of visiting River.

The game was stopped with one out in the bottom of the fifth when Jaxon Wiley drew a bases-loaded walk that kicked in the OHSAA’s 10-run mercy rule.

“We have pitched well and played solid defense in our scrimmages and against Union Local in the opener,” Butler said.

Following a scoreless first inning, the Shamrocks (2-0) struck for four runs in the bottom of the second, added one in the third and two in the fourth before ending things with a pair in the fifth.

The bottom of the order got things started as No. 7 hitter Max Miller drew a one-out walk. He scooted to third on Caleb Powell’s double to the gap in left-center. Caden Sellers was inserted as a courtesy runner for Powell and both runners scored on a two-run single by Dylan Blon.

After Taison Starr walked, Reese Stephens knocked in Blon with a groundout to the right side and Wiley’s two-out single to center made it 4-0.

“The bottom of the order really came through for us there in the bottom of the second,” Butler recalled. “That kind of got our bats going.”

Powell’s groundout in the third bumped the count to 5-0 as Ayden VanHorn raced home. Wiley singled in Starr and Marshall Meade’s two-out base hit to left in the fourth chased home Stephen and Wiley as the lead increased to 8-0.

Miller singled leading off the fifth and went to second on an errant pickoff attempt. Powell singled to center to plate Miller. Powell went to second on a wild pitch and, after Starr was hit by a pitch and Stephen walked to load the bases, Sellers came in on the game-ending free pass.

“Not the result we were looking for,” River head coach Tim Blue said. “But Barnesville is a really good team. I think they only lost two players from last year.”

Powell singled and doubled to drive in two runs. Wiley had two singles and three ribbies. All but one of the starting nine didn’t record a hit.

All the while, Carpenter was holding the Pilots in check. He gave up four singles — two coming in the first inning that was wiped out with a nifty 6-4-3 double play. He fanned four and walked a pair. The junior retired 10 of the final 11 Pilots he faced.

“That’s the best outing Casey has had since he started pitching,” Butler praised. “I really thought the outstanding football season he had (as the starting quarterback) would give him some confidence. It looked today like it has.”