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MADISON — Looking at the hits column, it might appear there wasn’t much separation between the Monmouth Academy and Madison baseball teams Wednesday.

It was the way those hits came, though, that did put separation between the teams and delivered a decisive result for the visitors.

Monmouth made the most of its seven hits while working around Madison’s five hits in a 10-0 five-inning victory. The win marked a bounce-back result for the Mustangs, who were held to a single hit Monday in a shutout loss against Cony.

“We put the ball on the ground hard and in play,” said Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi. “We got some hits out of that, and they made some mistakes that we were able to take advantage of. … We did what we needed to do.”

How Monmouth did it

• After the Mustangs (3-2) scored two runs in the first inning, they broke it open with seven in the second. The visitors strung together four hits with just one out, and mixed that with a walk, two hit batters and an error by Madison to produce a big inning.

“We’ve been starting off sort of slow, if you look at our past couple games, so a big point of emphasis was coming out hot,” said Monmouth’s Jacob Harmon, who had two hits. “(It was about) having quality at-bats, being able to adjust to the off-speed (pitches) and just finding our way on base.”

• Monmouth’s solid defense limited Madison’s offensive output. The Bulldogs (3-3) hit the ball hard at times, but the contact was often right where the Mustangs’ fielders were situated. Monmouth didn’t commit any errors.

What it means

• Monmouth showed resilience after Monday’s 11-0 defeat at Cony. In addition to recording only one hit in their previous game, the Mustangs made three errors that led to seven unearned runs. Wednesday’s effort was a complete 180.

• Since starting 3-1, Madison has been outscored 24-0 over its last two games. The Bulldogs, like Monmouth, are a young team, one that made life easier for the Mustangs by committing the same type of mistakes that their Mountain Valley Conference foe did against Cony.

“We’ve had two tough games in a row,” said Madison coach Shawn Bean. “We hit the ball, but we seemed to be hitting it at people. We also did stupid stuff in the field — dropping fly balls, missing throws and not hitting cuts.”

They said it

• “I think we did the little things a lot better than we did Monday. … I think it was just timing — they had a good pitcher on the mound (Monday) — and we made some mistakes defensively. I think we cleaned it up a little bit better today, despite it being as wet as it is.” — Jacob Harmon

• “You look around the MVC, and it’s just young all around this year. I can’t remember the last time there were this many sophomores; that class is huge. The big thing with that is trying to keep them focused and working, and fortunately for us, we have a group of kids that love to work.” — Eric Palleschi

Stat leaders

• Monmouth: Jacob Harmon (1 1/3 IP, 2 K; 2B, 1B), Levi Laverdiere (winning pitcher, 3 IP, 4 K, 1 hit allowed), Kyle LePage (2/3 IP; 2 1B, SB).

• Madison: Xavier Estes (2 1B, 3 SB), Jonathan Prosser (L, 2 IP, 6 ER, 3 K), Jaeson Almeida (2B).

Up next

• Monmouth: at Sacopee Valley (1-3), 4 p.m. Friday

• Madison: vs. Spruce Mountain (1-4), 4 p.m. Monday