In the latter stages of Northern’s season opener against Great Mills, Patriots baseball coach Carl Smith tried to get one of his outfielders to move over a few steps. Smith told his player to move left, and then told him to move to his left. Though he tried to get his outfielder to move left, Northern did everything right on its way to a 7-1 non-conference win over visiting Great Mills on Friday afternoon.

Northern (1-0) banged out 12 hits, four of them for extra bases, while three pitchers — starter Eric Gronbeck, Cory Walburn and Timmy Hull — held the Hornets to just one hit. The trio also combined to strike out 11.

‘‘It’s big when you win to start off the season,” Smith said. ‘‘Offensively, you like to see that [hitting] and we think we hit like that because we have more depth. I think we’re pretty solid throughout the lineup.”

Great Mills coach Steve Wolfe said he was pleased with his team’s performance.

‘‘Our kids played hard the whole game,” Wolfe said. ‘‘There wasn’t any rolling over [by my kids] and considering that we got rained out of one scrimmage and had a patchwork lineup out here, I thought we did a pretty good job. It’s an early season non-conference game and we were just looking to see what the kids were going to do and I thought they played pretty good.”

Gronbeck went four innings and allowed a run on one hit. He also walked four and struck out three.

‘‘I felt pretty good out there,” said Gronbeck, who was pulled after he reached his 60-pitch limit. ‘‘I was just trying to work my fastball and work off that. I was also throwing my curve and a few changeups, though not as many as I usually do. It was a good way to start off the season.” ‘‘He didn’t throw a lot of innings last year as a sophomore because we had so many pitchers,” Smith said of his No. 3 pitcher. ‘‘But he’s made improvements and worked hard and I think he’ll improve throughout the year. He wasn’t his sharpest but he was sharper than he has been.”

Walburn and Hull threw the final three innings and combined to strike out eight while surrendering a walk. The duo also fanned 7 of 9 late in the game.

‘‘I was throwing fastballs but I mixed in curves and changeups here and there,” said Walburn, who struck out two of the first three hitters he faced. ‘‘I like to keep [hitters] off balance so they don’t know what’s coming.”

‘‘Those are our Nos. 1 and 2 pitchers,” Smith said of Hull and Walburn, respectively. ‘‘We have high hopes and high expectations for them. They’ve each gotten bigger and stronger and hopefully they’ll continue to throw that way throughout the year and if they do, we’ll be competitive.”

Great Mills (0-1) started its No. 3 pitcher, Matt Jackson. Jackson allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk over four innings. Josh Trossbach and Matthew Brown tossed one and two innings, respectively.

‘‘Calvin did a good job but we were hoping he’d be able to go one more inning than he did,” Wolfe said. ‘‘But he kept the ball down and did pretty much what we wanted him to do. When your [starting] pitcher keeps you within one or two runs, that’s a quality start. That’s what we wanted him to do.”

Northern set the tone defensively in the top of the first inning. With one out, William Smith reached on an infield hit, the Hornets’ only hit of the game, and Alex Mancil hit a sinking line drive to left. Outfielder Jake Springer made a sliding backhand catch and gunned the ball to infielder Jake Orlandi, who threw to first to get Smith.

‘‘I saw it pretty good off the bat and even though it was a line drive, I knew I would have time to get it even though it was a bit of a risk,” Springer said. ‘‘I knew that if I missed it, I’d be able to get it [back in] fast enough. It felt real good to make a play like that.”

Northern set the offensive tone in the bottom of the inning when Patrick Morrow clubbed an RBI double and Walburn singled in the second run of the inning.

‘‘We made a nice defensive play,” Gronbeck said, ‘‘and then we scored a few runs that gave me a lot of confidence.”

‘‘The thing that hurt [Jackson] was that he threw a lot of pitches in the first inning,” Wolfe said.

Great Mills pushed across its only run of the game in the top of the third when it earned four walks, the last one forcing in Saxon Simpson. With the bases still loaded and one out, the Hornets had a chance to pull even but Mancil popped out and Jackson looked at a third strike.

‘‘My arm slot needed to be higher,” Gronbeck said of the walks. ‘‘I wasn’t getting it high enough. I had a rough inning but I was able to get through it.”

Northern reestablished its two-run lead in the bottom of the frame when Nick Soloducha lashed a two-out, run-scoring single.

‘‘It was important to put one on the board there that gave us our two-run lead back,” Smith said. ‘‘This team has a lot of character and showed that they’re going to scrap.”

Northern put the game away with a three-run fifth and added its final run of the game on Walburn’s RBI double in the sixth.

‘‘He threw me a fastball right down the middle,” Walburn said, ‘‘and I was able to hit it good enough so that it hit the gap.”

‘‘We hit the ball solidly throughout the whole game,” Smith said, ‘‘and we were able to blow it open in the later innings.”

Wolfe added, ‘‘Until that inning it was 3-1 and still anybody’s game.”

Over the past few years, the knock on Northern has been its hitting.

The Patriots have had more than their share pitching and had the defense, but could never score the key run when they needed it. So far this season, nothing could be further from the truth.

Five games into this campaign, Northern has averaged over than eight runs a game — even with a two-run effort in a March 28 loss to Leonardtown. On Saturday, the Patriots put their firepower on display with an 11-4 win over host St. Mary’s Ryken. That decision came a day after Northern dispatched SMAC rival Thomas Stone, 10-0, in six innings.

‘‘The past couple years we’ve struggled at the plate, but this year is totally different,” said Nick Soloducha, who drove in four runs against Ryken. ‘‘Our whole approach at the plate, and in practice, is we need runs to win. Our defense can get it done and our pitchers can get it done, but we need to come out here and swing the bat and be aggressive. That’s what the team is set on doing.”

On Saturday, a Soloducha appearance at the plate translated into sure runs for the Patriots. The senior, who was 2 for 2 and was hit by a pitch, drove in a run each time he stepped into the box, and started the Northern machine in motion with a two-run home run in the top of the first.

Northern (4-1, 2-1 SMAC) scored four first-inning runs, and tacked on two in both the second and fourth to lead 8-0 after 3 1/2 innings.

‘‘I think we have a lot of mature players that have a lot of ability,” Northern coach Carl Smith said. ‘‘They’ve seen the pitching for a couple years. One of the benefits is four or five of these guys played varsity ball as sophomores. They’ve had a chance to adjust over three years as opposed to two. They’ve gotten better every year and they’re good. We’re not huge, we’re not big and we’re not strong, but we’re very good.”

The eight-run spot proved to be more than enough run support for starter Cory Walburn, who did not allow a run and struck out five through the first three innings.

Ryken (1-5, 1-4 WCAC) started to reach Walburn in the fourth, when consecutive singles by Jake Cooke and Nick Coucoules were followed by a Corey Hayden walk. Cooke scored on a 4-6 fielder’s choice by Anthony Costa, while Coucoules and Hayden scored on singles by Devin Del Ricco and John Cappello.

But, with three runs across and the bases loaded, Walburn escaped further damage by retiring Ben Shelley on a fly ball to center.

‘‘I felt good for the most part,” said Walburn, who struck out nine in five innings. ‘‘Towards the end I started to struggle, but I had to bear down and get outs. My defense helped me out a lot today.”

The Knights tacked on one more run in the fifth, but Northern added a run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

The Patriots banged out 12 hits and scored in double figures for the third time in five games. Soloducha’s effort included a home run, a triple and two runs scored. Senior Timmy Hull was 2 for 4 with a double, triple, two runs scored and an RBI. In all, seven of Northern’s hits went for extra bases on Ryken’s fenceless field.

‘‘We’re going to have games like we had at Leonardtown where we don’t get the timely hit,” Smith said, ‘‘but I think overall throughout the course of the year we’re going to hit more than not.”

Barely a week into the SMAC schedule, only Huntingtown (4-0, 3-0) remains unbeaten. Though the win over Ryken was a non-conference affair, putting a two-game win streak together after the Leonardtown loss was just was Smith was looking for prior to the extended break the Patriots enjoy before their next action at their own tournament Saturday.

‘‘We’re happy to be 4-1 and are back in the thick of things as far as our overall record,” Smith said. ‘‘It’s nice to come down and beat a program that’s building.

‘‘They’re building a good program here. The WCAC is always competitive with quality baseball players and our guys responded well. Playing four games this week and winning three of them, finishing up here, I was really pleased with their effort, focus and attitude.”

Ryken lost WCAC games earlier in the week to Paul VI and St. John’s, leaving Coach John Ford down after Saturday’s effort.

‘‘We kind of regressed today,” he said. ‘‘Earlier in the week we were headed in the right direction, playing decent baseball.

‘‘We don’t have anybody who’s going to be power pitching. The ball’s going to be put in play and when the ball’s put in play we have to catch it. We just didn’t.”

The Knights have a busy week ahead, with conference games Monday and Tuesday before the Leonardtown tournament Saturday. Ryken then travels to Florida to compete in another tournament Monday.

Ford is looking for his squad to improve on some of the things that are easily corrected, which against Northern included some inopportune fielding miscues and poor at-bats. The Knights struck out 11 times in the game.

‘‘Instead of going home and sulking about [the loss] you have to look in the mirror and try to change those mistakes,” Ford said. ‘‘Think about what we’re teaching you and in what situations you failed so when those situations come up again, it’s not the same result.”

In the latter stages of Northern’s season opener against Great Mills, Patriots baseball coach Carl Smith tried to get one of his outfielders to move over a few steps. Smith told his player to move left, and then told him to move to his left. Though he tried to get his outfielder to move left, Northern did everything right on its way to a 7-1 non-conference win over visiting Great Mills on Friday afternoon.

Northern (1-0) banged out 12 hits, four of them for extra bases, while three pitchers — starter Eric Gronbeck, Cory Walburn and Timmy Hull — held the Hornets to just one hit. The trio also combined to strike out 11.

‘‘It’s big when you win to start off the season,” Smith said. ‘‘Offensively, you like to see that [hitting] and we think we hit like that because we have more depth. I think we’re pretty solid throughout the lineup.”

Great Mills coach Steve Wolfe said he was pleased with his team’s performance.

‘‘Our kids played hard the whole game,” Wolfe said. ‘‘There wasn’t any rolling over [by my kids] and considering that we got rained out of one scrimmage and had a patchwork lineup out here, I thought we did a pretty good job. It’s an early season non-conference game and we were just looking to see what the kids were going to do and I thought they played pretty good.”

Gronbeck went four innings and allowed a run on one hit. He also walked four and struck out three.

‘‘I felt pretty good out there,” said Gronbeck, who was pulled after he reached his 60-pitch limit. ‘‘I was just trying to work my fastball and work off that. I was also throwing my curve and a few changeups, though not as many as I usually do. It was a good way to start off the season.”

‘‘He didn’t throw a lot of innings last year as a sophomore because we had so many pitchers,” Smith said of his No. 3 pitcher. ‘‘But he’s made improvements and worked hard and I think he’ll improve throughout the year. He wasn’t his sharpest but he was sharper than he has been.”

Walburn and Hull threw the final three innings and combined to strike out eight while surrendering a walk. The duo also fanned 7 of 9 late in the game.

‘‘I was throwing fastballs but I mixed in curves and changeups here and there,” said Walburn, who struck out two of the first three hitters he faced. ‘‘I like to keep [hitters] off balance so they don’t know what’s coming.”

‘‘Those are our Nos. 1 and 2 pitchers,” Smith said of Hull and Walburn, respectively. ‘‘We have high hopes and high expectations for them. They’ve each gotten bigger and stronger and hopefully they’ll continue to throw that way throughout the year and if they do, we’ll be competitive.”

Great Mills (0-1) started its No. 3 pitcher, Matt Jackson. Jackson allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk over four innings. Josh Trossbach and Matthew Brown tossed one and two innings, respectively.

‘‘Matt did a good job but we were hoping he’d be able to go one more inning than he did,” Wolfe said. ‘‘But he kept the ball down and did pretty much what we wanted him to do. When your [starting] pitcher keeps you within one or two runs, that’s a quality start. That’s what we wanted him to do.”

Northern set the tone defensively in the top of the first inning. With one out, William Smith reached on an infield hit, the Hornets’ only hit of the game, and Alex Mancil hit a sinking line drive to left. Outfielder Jake Springer made a sliding backhand catch and gunned the ball to infielder Jake Orlandi, who threw to first to get Smith.

‘‘I saw it pretty good off the bat and even though it was a line drive, I knew I would have time to get it even though it was a bit of a risk,” Springer said. ‘‘I knew that if I missed it, I’d be able to get it [back in] fast enough. It felt real good to make a play like that.”

Northern set the offensive tone in the bottom of the inning when Patrick Morrow clubbed an RBI double and Walburn singled in the second run of the inning.

‘‘We made a nice defensive play,” Gronbeck said, ‘‘and then we scored a few runs that gave me a lot of confidence.”

‘‘The thing that hurt [Jackson] was that he threw a lot of pitches in the first inning,” Wolfe said.

Great Mills pushed across its only run of the game in the top of the third when it earned four walks, the last one forcing in Saxon Simpson. With the bases still loaded and one out, the Hornets had a chance to pull even but Mancil popped out and Jackson looked at a third strike.

‘‘My arm slot needed to be higher,” Gronbeck said of the walks. ‘‘I wasn’t getting it high enough. I had a rough inning but I was able to get through it.”

Northern reestablished its two-run lead in the bottom of the frame when Nick Soloducha lashed a two-out, run-scoring single.

‘‘It was important to put one on the board there that gave us our two-run lead back,” Smith said. ‘‘This team has a lot of character and showed that they’re going to scrap.”

Northern put the game away with a three-run fifth and added its final run of the game on Walburn’s RBI double in the sixth.

‘‘He threw me a fastball right down the middle,” Walburn said, ‘‘and I was able to hit it good enough so that it hit the gap.”

‘‘We hit the ball solidly throughout the whole game,” Smith said, ‘‘and we were able to blow it open in the later innings.”

Wolfe added, ‘‘Until that inning it was 3-1 and still anybody’s game.”

Senior pitcher Tim Hull allowed only two hits in five innings as visiting Northern shut out Chopticon on Monday afternoon, 7-0.

Hull walked two and struck out six before being relieved by Cory Walburn, who retired all six hitters he faced in the final two frames.

‘‘We came out and had a tough loss on Friday [to Patuxent},” Hull said. ‘‘It feels good to come back and play our style of baseball.”

Hull had Chopticon chasing out of the strike zone on multiple occasions and allowed just four hitters to reach base in his stint.

‘‘I felt good,” Hull said. ‘‘I was throwing a lot of strikes, not walking anybody. It really helped me today.”

Hull struck out at least one hitter in each inning he pitched, four of the swinging variety.

‘‘Tim’s pitched well all year,” Northern coach Carl Smith said. ‘‘He has like a 1.4 ERA at least probably by now and he’s pitched well, but we just haven’t given him a lot of support consistently. Today, you saw one of the games where he had an outing like he did against Huntingtown; we played solid defense, he threw the ball well and we did things to help support him.

‘‘In the other games he lost against Calvert, two against Calvert, he had a one- or two-hitter both games in the fourth inning and our defense didn’t let him down. He’s pitched great all year. I feel sorry for him in some capacity individually, even though it’s a team sport, that we haven’t supported him as much as we should’ve.”

The Patriots had just six hits against four Chopticon pitchers. Junior left fielder Colin Brown was the only hitter from either team to have more than one hit in the game.

‘‘Tim’s pitched great all year and came out and got another one of his better games in and we won,” Brown said.

Brown went 2 for 4 with two singles, both coming in consecutive at-bats in the first and second.

‘‘I thought we played well today,” Brown said. ‘‘We played as a team and we got the win.”

Northern (10-7, 8-6 SMAC) climbed to the 10-win plateau with the victory.

‘‘It’s been a roller-coaster year,” Smith said. ‘‘It’s been up and down. We played well at times and played poorly at times. It’s not a secret. It’s not hard to analyze. If you play good defense, you throw strikes and you get timely hitting, you’ll be successful. If you don’t, you won’t be.”

Chopticon (8-8-1, 6-7-1), on the other hand, fell back to the .500 mark after three straight victories last week.

‘‘We were chasing a lot of pitches,” Braves coach Steve Williams said. ‘‘[Hull] was throwing hard and we were trying to catch up to him, chasing pitches out of the strike zone. We told them a few times to stop chasing pitches, but you can’t go up there and hit for them.”

A two-out first-inning double by James Newsome and a fourth-inning leadoff single from designated hitter Steven Shorter were the only two hits Chopticon had in the game. The Braves did not have a base runner reach third.

‘‘We’re a better hitting team than that,” Williams said. ‘‘We didn’t get the job done today at the plate.”

The playoff pairings were scheduled to come out Tuesday evening, so Williams started with a freshman pitcher, Jonathan Nagy, not knowing if his team will be playing a first-round game later this week or not.

‘‘With this whole playoff situation about not knowing who’s going to get seeded where, we’re kind of in a tough predicament,” Williams said. ‘‘You can’t go out and throw your ace or your number two guy because you could end up playing Friday. Now, if the state would start seeding everybody, then everybody would have a better idea of what you’re doing. Baseball is the one sport that’s very difficult because it’s all based on pitching and if you go ahead and you pitch your ace today and we [played Tuesday at Westlake]. If you pitch your ace [Tuesday] and we don’t have a bye, then we’re in trouble, so the situation for seeding needs to change in order for us to have quality games at the end of the season.”

Brown led off the game with a single to left and advanced to second on a walk by catcher Nick Sydnor. Second baseman Eric Gronbeck golfed a single to center, scoring Brown. Northern led 1-0.

Walburn and shortstop Jake Orlandi began the Patriots second with walks and advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt from center fielder Jordan Shaffer. Brown then singled both runners home to put the visitors up 3-0.

‘‘People have been stepping up, doing what they need to do,” Brown said, ‘‘driving runs in and that’s what happens.”

On the play, the relay throw to Chopticon catcher Chris Adams bounced and caught him in the nose. He left the game and Williams did some changes to the lineup, bringing Nagy from the mound to behind the plate and summoning Newsome from center field to pitch.

‘‘We work on that in practice, tell him not to take his helmet off,” Williams said of Adams. ‘‘He took his helmet off and unfortunately it came back and hit him.”

Williams added, ‘‘He just had a bloody nose and I think swelling on his nose.”

Gronbeck lined a shot that glanced off right-hander Newsome’s pitching hand. It was fielded by shortstop Roy Maddox, who threw to first to get Gronbeck and end the inning. Newsome stayed in the game.

Right fielder Nick Solodugha was hit by a Newsome pitch to start the third. Then Hull doubled to the right-center field fence. Third baseman Pat Morrow singled in two runs to put Northern up 5-0.

‘‘I’ve been on a little slump here lately,” Hull said. ‘‘It feels good to hit the ball again.”

Morrow went to second on an Orlandi groundout, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a Maddox error to give the Patriots a 6-0 lead.

Northern scored its final run in the fifth. Chopticon reliever Matt Boltz walked Morrow on four pitches, then Walburn worked out another walk and Tyler Summers came from third base to pitch.

Morrow stole third and scored on a Shaffer groundout to make it 7-0.