FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Curt Schilling struck out his first two batters of spring training. He allowed one hit in four shutout innings. And, he said, he doesn’t think about the ankle that ruined his 2005 season.

The Red Sox ace of 2004 who struggled with his injury most of last year was outstanding in his exhibition debut Friday, a 10-0 win over Boston College in a seven-inning game.

“I think I can be better than I was in 2004 simply because I have 2004 to use as an experience. I’m a year smarter on the hitters in this league,” Schilling said. “I don’t go into any season looking to duplicate something I’ve already done. I’m trying to do something I’ve never done before.”

The right-hander was 21-6 with a 3.24 ERA in 2004 despite a right ankle that bothered him for much of the season. He pitched poorly in the opener of the AL championship series against the Yankees. Then he underwent unusual surgery to stitch a loose tendon to his skin so it stayed in place.

He returned for Game 6, a 4-2 win in which he allowed one run in seven innings against New York. The procedure was repeated before Game 2 of the World Series, and he gave up one run in six innings in a 6-2 win over St. Louis. Boston swept the series for its first championship in 86 years.

But last season he finished 8-8 with a 5.69 ERA and spent 76 days on the disabled list.

“If I thought about how I felt last year in my best start and ranked it, today was in a different stratosphere from a physical standpoint,” Schilling said.

Last year, he didn’t make his first appearance of spring training until March 21, when he allowed two runs and three hits over three innings against Red Sox minor leaguers. Then he opened the regular season on the disabled list.

On Friday, manager Terry Francona said, “his focus right now is as good as I’ve ever seen it.”

Sure, Schilling pitched against a college team. But he still used all his pitches, threw well to both sides of the plate, needed just 35 pitches to get through four innings and thought he got his fastball into the 92-94 mph range.

He also did not walk a batter and was encouraged that he pitched well after sitting in the dugout between innings more than pitchers usually do in their first exhibition start.

“I tried to sequence some pitches and approaches as if I was facing big league hitters,” Schilling said. “But I pitched, and I haven’t done that in a long, long time, since early 2004, without other questions going on.”

Schilling had been pitching well in camp but said that can’t get his adrenaline going the way a game does.

“It’s exciting more than surprising,” he said of Friday’s outing.

A healthy Schilling strengthens a deep starting staff that includes Josh Beckett, David Wells, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo, Matt Clement and Jon Papelbon.

“If he’s healthy, he’s going to have a great year,” said catcher Josh Bard, who was behind the plate while Schilling pitched. “He looked healthy. He looked strong.”

Schilling retired his first 10 batters, striking out three and allowing only one ball to leave the infield. Then Jett Ruiz singled to left before Jared McGuire grounded into a double play on Schilling’s last pitch of the game.

“Because he beat the BC Eagles doesn’t mean he’s going to win the Cy Young,” Francona said, “but what he’s doing gives us a lot of reason to be very excited about all we think he can accomplish, and he’s not going to forget how to pitch.

“If he’s healthy he’s going to be good, and he looks very healthy to me.”

Schilling already knew that.

“When I threw the first fastball of the game I knew that everything was different again. Everything was normal,” he said, “but after last year, normal is a really cool thing for me.”

Notes: The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, then scored four runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and two in the sixth. Willie Harris, Alberto Concepcion and Brandon Moss each had two RBIs. Ruiz had the only two hits for BC, a single and a double. … The Red Sox were scheduled to play Northeastern in a Friday night game. … Wells, coming back from knee surgery, pitched 12-14 minutes in the bullpen before the game against BC and said his knee “is not really bothering me.” He could make his first exhibition start March 12. … INF Dustin Pedroia is expected to miss at least a week after straining his left shoulder in Thursday night’s 6-3 loss to Minnesota. … SS Alex Gonzalez won’t play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. He was expected back with Boston on Saturday.

AP-ES-03-03-06 1832EST