Nashua South's River Hart, left, and Albert De La Rosa ponder the tough 12-2 loss to Exeter in the Division I quarterfinals Saturday at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The goal, the Nashua High School South baseball said heading into Saturday’s Division I quarterfinal, was to hit one through nine in the lineup.

That happened – but not for them, but rather the No. 6 Exeter Blue Hawks, to the tune of a 12-2 five inning (mercy rule) contest at Holman Stadium.

A shock to the system, no doubt, for the No. 3, 16-5 Panthers, who saw themselves down 6-0 after the very first inning. The Blue Hawk lead grew to 10-0 by the middle of the second, and it was basically over.

Who knew? This was more or less the reversal of what the Panthers did to rival Nashua North, when they prepared heavily for a pitcher that had given them trouble (Titan Elias Bourque) in the prelims. Exeter did the same thing for South lefty Nick Shaw, who tamed the Blue Hawks to a 6-1 tune back in mid-April, but didn’t survive the first inning yesterday.

“They prepared for our pitcher, they ambushed him,we got too much of the plate and before we knew it, it was 6-0,” South coach James Gaj said. “And jumping out to 10 runs (down) in the second inning, that hasn’t happened to us in two-and-a-half years.”

It happened partly due to the hitting of Blue Hawk Connor Wyskiel, who had two doubles, a triple and drove in six runs.

“We faced (Shaw) and he lit us up,” Wyskiel said of the regular season meeting. “We put the ball in the air too much. We were just thinking hit middle away, keeping the ball down, hit line drives and that’s what we did.”

The first three hitters in Exeter’s lineup started the game with singles (one via bunt), and then Shaw walked cleanup hitter Nathan Leighton to force in the first run. One out later, Ryan Morgado singled in two to make it 3-0. Then came back-to-back doubles by Roger Davis and Wyskiel, and just like that after eight batters it was 6-zip.

“They (the Blue Hawks) played an amazing game,” South senior leader River Hart said. “They hit gaps, hats off to them. They came in and punched us in the mouth.”

Exeter coach Bruce Joyce said he never envisioned his team, now 15-6 and returning to Holman for Wednesday’s semis, being in such an attack mode as it outhit South 10-3.

“We honestly haven’t done that all year long, we picked a helluva time to do it,” he said. “We learned a little bit from the first time; I know it was a long time ago. But we worked a little bit on an approach to (Shaw), and can’t ask for more than what we got in the first couple of innings.

“… But there’s no way we wake up this morning and say we’re going to win this game 12-2 in five innings. No way.”

They made it 10-0 with four in the fourth off freshman reliever Grant McCubrey, highlighted by another two-run Wyskeil double. He later had a two-run triple in the fourth off Jake O’Connor that gave the Blue Hawks 12 runs.

Ironically, he thought he’d have a terrible day at the plate.

“I had a terrible BP round early in the day,” Wyskiel said. “I get in the game, my timing was perfect, I just felt great.”

South wasn’t able to muster much at all against Exeter starter Zach Ferris. They loaded the bases on three walks down 10-0 in the third but could only manage one run on a bases-loaded walk to Isaiah Hedquist. Dean Adams had lined hard out to short and South just avoided a double play, and then Hart was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch. Just that kind of day. Leo Kopiko singled in a run in the fourth, but too little, too late.

“The four in the second hurt,” Gaj said. “The mountain just kept getting bigger and bigger, and harder to climb. We beat them up in the regular season but they’re a different team right now. … They hit, we didn’t. You’ve got to tip your cap.”

This was tough for the Panthers, because they would have had the chance to play at Holman, the designated site for the semis, for a third straight game, in what was their best overall season since winning the title in 2005.

“It was an amazing season,” Hart said. “We went from 3-14 to 16-5, an amazing turnaround. I know that the younger ages, our team will be good for awhile. Heads held high. … This will definitely sting for awhile.

“Best of luck to the rest of the teams. Wish we were watching (the semis) from the dugout, not from the stands.”

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