Alvirne's Matt Bebris looks back while North infielder Dawson Bolton reaches for the ball during Monday's Division I clash at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Nothing like nearly a week off to right the ship, right?

That breather – six days without a game – seemed to work wonders for the Alvirne High School baseball team on Monday. The Broncos came into Holman Stadium Monday morning swinging, and the result was their first win of the season, 8-0, over a struggling Nashua North squad.

Remember, the last time the Broncos took the field was right here at Holman, and they stumbled badly defensively in a loss to Nashua South that left them 0-5. That was exactly a week ago.

“We took a day off for just a little mental health,” Houle said, “and then we kind of went after it at practice hard. I pushed them.”

Besides an active offense, what also helped the Broncos was a 10-strikeout performance from junior righty Brody Buja, who deserved better in their last game, the South loss. Reliever Gavin Baviello struck out three in two innings of work.

“It was another great outing from Buja,” Houle said. “We got some timely hitting when we needed it, put some pressure on the defense and made a few things happen. … We played ball.”

Alvirne got five runs in the third inning on five hits, and then picked up three insurance runs in the seventh and finished with a 13-hit attack.

For the 1-6 Titans, as the saying goes, the struggle is real. North only managed three hits, and has 21 scoreless innings in a Friday-Monday three game Holman stretch that has left them 1-6. The lack of offense puts pressure on everything else.

“For sure,” North coach Zach Harris said. “We’ve got to find a way to make adjustments at-bat to at-bat, game to game, and do a better job of making it tougher on the opponent. It’s high school baseball, and when the ball’s in play, good things happen.”

That was Alvirne’s approach yesterday. Houle admitted the Broncos remembered Mercier from a year ago, expected fastballs, and got them, with leadoff hitter Matty Bebris doubling on the game’s first pitch. He didn’t score, though, but the Broncos put the leadoff runner on the first three frames and broke through in the third. RBIs went to Alex Drown, Jameson Krueger, Brady Mitchell and pitcher Brody Buja. Things went so well for the visitors that Drown was able to score from third when a teammate inexplicably tried to share the bag with him in a base-running mishap.

Drown and pinch hitter Casey Benning had RBI hits in the seventh off North reliever Cameron Hayes. Luke Norse led Alvirne with three hits.

Losers of six straight after beating Manchester Memorial in their season opener, the Titans now look to try to turn things around Wednesday at Concord, their only other game this week. Harris says the team is learning things about baseball and outside of baseball the hard way.

“We just talked about character,” he said. “Life is about who you are when things aren’t going your way and things get tough. We’ve got to choose what kind of men we want to be.”

Alvirne’s Brody Buja kept North in check with 10 strikeouts over five innings on Monday at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Houle says he knows how Harris feels after his team’s slow start over the years. The Broncos also have just one other game this week, at home vs.Salem on Wednesday.

“We’re going to come out strong on Wednesday, and try to carry this ‘W’ into that,” Houle said. “We’ve had three tough years the way we started. Last year we didn’t get our first win until the seventh or eighth game. We beat that record. We’re in the win column early and we’re going to stay there.”