Nashua South's Albert De La Rosa, left, celebrates with teammate River Hart after blasting a three-run homer duirng Thursday's 13-3 Panthers win at South Field. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Game changer.

That’s what Nashua South’s Albert De La Rosa can be, and not only was he a game changer Thursday for the Panthers but he was a game ender.

De La Rosa hit two home runs and drove in six runs as the Panthers handed last year’s Division I runnerup, Winnacunnet, a 13-3 pasting at South Field. The senior shortstop’s first blast with the strong wind to straightaway center broke open a 3-1 game to make it 6-1, and his last in the bottom of the sixth ended things as it was a three-run shot to left to kick in the 10-run mercy rule.

“I felt very good, I enjoyed it a lot,” De La Rosa said. “I wanted that (last homer) to happen, so I feel (good) about it.”

“That’s the difference with having a guy like that who can go ahead and get the ball over the fence,” Nashua South coach James Gaj said. “We’ve got a couple of other guys who can hit but it’s nice to put up that crooked number and you demoralize other teams when you do that. But anything can happen…Winnacunnet’s always a tough team, no matter what.”

But South (4-0) pounded out 15 hits off four Warrior pitchers, including three for De La Rosa while River Hart went 4 for 4. De La Rosa’s first dinger highlighted a six-run fourth that also included an RBI double by Dean Adams and RBI single off the bat of Caleb Rich to give South a commanding 8-1 lead.

“As a team they hit well,” Warriors coach Aaron Abood said, his team now 3-1 on the young season. “We started falling behind, and if it wasn’t a walk it was a 2-0 fastball down the middle. Tough to pitch to a good team like that. These guys certainly hit better than any team we’ve seen so far.”

It’s a big win for the Panthers because they’re in the midst of a three games in three days stretch against last year’s finalist, and then champion (Concord) today at Holman Stadium, and title contender Pinkerton on Saturday – also at Holman as part of a four-game., eight-team extravaganza with the Astros being the home team.

“It was,” Gaj said. “It actually helped us out because we only used one pitcher today (starter and winner Nick Shaw) and one on Monday. If you have three in a row and have the arms, it’s OK. But it could have gone the other way.”

Nashua South’s River Hart somehow gets in safely to second around the tag by Winnacunnet shortstop Joe Chase during Thursday’s six-inning 13-3 Panthers win at South Field. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Shaw, he of the slower off-speed arsenal, allowed just three runs (one earned) on five hits while fanning three, walking one and hitting a batter over six innings.

“Everyone’s geared up for 75-85,” Gaj said. “When you see 66 and junk, it’s hard to hit as a high school kid. He’s got a rubber arm, goes out there and does his job, doesn’t say a word.”

And Gaj hasn’t said much about this stretch, which will end Saturday at 4 with South likely seeing Astros senior lefty ace Liam Doyle, one of the best around.

“Basically you just go out there and play baseball,” Gaj said of the busy stretch. “It’s spring in New Hampshire. You’ve got to figure out how to do that. … Today we hit the ball, and it’s nice to have a team that can do that. It’s nice to have a middle of the order hitting well, but one thing about this team that I love is they do it as a team.”

With a game changer or two.