LEWISTON — Sometimes all it takes to get out of an offensive slump is a bleeder here and a bloop there.

Bleeders and bloops were about all Lewiston needed to bust up a compelling pitchers duel in the fifth inning and snap its three-game losing streak with a 5-0 victory over rival Edward Little on Monday.

Corbin Hyde hurled a three-hit complete game shutout, striking out 11 and walking three. The senior lefthander spotted his fastball on both sides of the plate and mixed in a knee-buckling curve to keep the Red Eddies off balance all day.

“When Corb’s fastball is on point, it’s fun to catch him,” Lewiston catcher Shawn Ricker said. “Today, he had real good control. The curveball, you can’t see it out of his hand. He really disguises it well and today he had it going.”

“His best attribute is he’s a pitcher. He just knows how to get guys out,” Edward Little coach Scott Annear said. “It’s not about having magical stuff, and he has good stuff. He’s a smart kid who’s doing his job out there. He sets up batters throughout the entire game and pours in the pitches that he wants.”

Annear could say the same for his starter, Nate Pushard (6 IP, 7 H, 6K, 0 BB), who matched Hyde through the first four innings, allowing just two singles before the five-run fifth that put the Devils in control.

One could argue Pushard deserved a better fate, as Lewiston’s rally featured only one well-hit ball, Matt Bowen’s leadoff single.

After a strikeout, Pushard hit Eddie Emerson with a pitch, then saw Alex Small beat out a chopper to shortstop to load the bases.

Hyde, hitting at the top of the order instead of his customary No. 3 spot, then hit a bleeder to second. Second baseman Josh Delong hesitated on the throw to first and Hyde beat it, driving in Bowen with the game’s first run and keeping the bases loaded.

“I think he was trying to do too many things at one time, thinking ‘Can I tag the guy (going from first to second) and throw the guy out (at first),” Annear said. “I think he was just trying to double-up and get two outs and we didn’t get anybody, which kind of hurt us.”

Pushard fanned the next batter for the second out, then jammed Luke Cote on a 3-2 fastball with the runners in motion. Cote fought the pitch off and blooped it into no-man’s land behind third base. It cleared the bases, and Cote moved up to third on the throw that was too late to get Hyde at the plate. Cote later scored the fifth run on a wild pitch.

“Our lineup’s been in a funk the last week, and we kind of knew it would break out not via the home run but with the infield hit and the bloop hit,” said Lewiston coach Todd Cifelli, whose team had scored one run in each of its last three games. “Pushard pitched a great game. He’s one of the best pitchers that we’ve seen this year, so to get five runs off of him, I’m very happy.”

One run would have been plenty for Hyde, who didn’t allow a hit until one out in the fifth, when Corey Henderson (two doubles) slapped a ball down the first base line that was ruled fair.

Lewiston (5-3) disputed the call, and Hyde, apparently rattled, walk the next batter on four pitches. He got out of the inning with a called third strike and a fly out to left.

“Everybody else was rattled, so I figured I’d jump in,” Hyde said with a laugh. “Coach (Dave) Jordan came out and told me to relax, so I just really focused on my motion and getting my knee to home plate to get my arm through instead of dragging it.”

EL (5-4) had only one other major threat, in the seventh, when Pushard singled and Henderson doubled with one out. Hyde finished the Eddies off with a strikeout and left fielder Alex Small preserved the shutout with a nice diving catch to end the game.

“Corbin’s one of the best competitors that I’ve had the pleasure to coach in the last seven years,” Cifelli said. “There’s been many a time since his sophomore year that we’ve needed  a big start after a losing streak or some ragged performance and he’s come back and been a stopper for us.”

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