Bishop Guertin's Sam Franco delivers a pitch during his six-inning no-hitter vs. Alvirne on Wednesday at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Wednesday was a first for Sam Franco.

The tall Bishop Guertin High School junior lefty had never tossed a no-hitter before at any level, but that’s exactly what he did yesterday, albeit just six innings thanks to the mercy rule in a 10-0 Cardinals win over the Alvirne Broncos at Holman Stadium.

“It feels great,” Franco, who is from Manchester, said. “A good comeback for me after my last outing (last week vs. Spaulding) when I didn’t do too hot.”

Still, even that was a 12-8 BG win. Yesterday Franco, with a good two-seam fastball and changeup, struck out seven and walked two. He was quiet before the game, not talking to anyone, he said, “just focused on myself and the game plan, just relaxed with my guys behind me and throw strikes.”

Franco’s outing is just the icing on the cake of a good Cardinal start to the season, as they are now 4-0 before Saturday night’s game at Holman vs. Dover.

“He was good, 75 pitches,” Guertin coach Scott Painter said. “Real efficient, in the zone, he worked quick, let our defense work. … Their kids competed, put the ball in play. Our defense played well. … That’s probably the best he’s ever been.”

“He was on us all day,” Alvirne coach Adam Perkins said, his Broncos struggling out of the gate at 0-5. “His two-seamer was running all over the place, hitting his spots. We made not good contact with it.”

Franco nearly had a mini-perfect game, as he didn’t allow a base runner until the fifth when he walked two batters with one out. Just before then is when he realized he was working on a no-no.

“It kind of got in my head,” he said. “But I just shook it off and continued to throw, trust my guys in the outfield and infield.”

It looked like in that inning Alvirne’s Max Francisco might ruin it with a sharp liner that looked like it would land just inside the right field line, but it went foul by about, oh, a foot or two.

“That scared me a little bit,” Franco said.

But it might be the rest of Division I that perhaps should be a little scared, as the Cards are off to a great start. Yesterday they had 10 hits off Alvirne pitching, a few thanks to some shoddy Alvirne defense on pop ups, and got four in the first off Broncos starter Logan Casey. Casey had movement on his pitches but after retiring the first two hitters he walked BG’s Luke Anderson to start the Cardinal expresss and eventually gave up RBI hits to Dom Monico, Ryan Haskell (double) and even Franco on a catchable pop that dropped in.

Guertin got two more in the second on Jackson Goldstein’s two-run homer into the left field picnic area for a 6-0 early BG lead. “He’s been red-hot,” Painter said.

Guertin the rest of the way got sac flies by Goldstein (three RBIs on the day) and Isaac Crivac, a Joe Riney RBI single, and a sac fly by Haskell to end it thanks to the 10-run rule in the sixth after Monico had tripled with one out.

Guertin, which was ousted early in the tourney by Bedford last year, beat the Bulldogs the other day and seem to be focused.

“We returned a lot of the same core guys,” Painter said. “We’re still young, these guys are all juniors. These guys are working hard, coming to practice ready to go, they’re prepared. When they come to games, they’re mentally ready.

“One and done (last year) was hard to swallow. We’ve got to keep the train rolling, keep ourselves healthy.”

Meanwhile, Perkins will try to hold the fort for the Broncos.

“We’re young, and in a game like this we’ve got to limit our mistakes,” he said. “And we can’t let them compound, one mistake rolls into another.

“We’ve just got to keep working hard, and keep trying to be good teammates. It is a good group of kids. Just got to work hard, that’s what it’s all about.”

But on Wednesday, it was all about Guertin’s Franco, and we’ll see if that’s a sign of more to come.

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