FARMINGTON – It took a few innings to happen, but the contrast between varsity experience and inexperience eventually revealed itself Friday at Hippach Field.

Led by a trio of four-year starters, Skowhegan scored nine times over the final two innings to break open what had been a close contest and claim a 13-3 win in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference clash.

Four different Indians collected two hits apiece and Marcus Morin belted a home run to lead Skowhegan’s 14-hit attack. Starting pitchers Devin Sylvain settled down after a two-run first inning and limited Mt. Blue to six hits, three of them by first baseman Bobby Duley.

“The first one was shaky, but he’s a senior. He’s been around for awhile and he knows what it takes to get the job done,” Skowhegan coach Rick York said. “Once he got his composure and he started throwing more strikes and got his curve ball over, he kept them off-balance.”

The Cougars (0-3) answered a two-run top of the first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame on RBI singles by Devin Zamboni and Bobby Duley. A perfectly executed hit-and-run by Brad Dority and Joe Gilbert got the rally going.

But the Cougars aggressiveness on the base paths proved costly, too. They had six different baserunners thrown out, including three caught stealing by Skowhegan catcher Les Marcue.

“We don’t hit the ball real well. We don’t have a lot of guys that can drive the ball, so we want to hit-and-run all the time,” said Mt. Blue coach Craig Collins, who has just four players returning from last year’s team that finished 8-8. “Give their catcher credit. He threw some guys out.”

Skowhegan (2-1) took a 3-2 lead in the second when Morin worked the count full, then blasted Gilbert’s payoff pitch over the fence in right-center. Mt. Blue answered in the bottom of the third when Dority ripped a double over the centerfielder’s head to drive in Ryan Backus.

The Indians took the lead for good in the fifth with an unearned run, then broke it open in the sixth with three runs, two of them coming home on a two-run single by Cody Vigue off reliever Alex Witt. Two Cougar errors in the sixth opened the door for a six-run inning that put the game away. Mt. Blue committed six errors.

“That’s our season. We’re just so young, we fall asleep out there sometimes,” Collins said. “We don’t stay focused the whole time, and when you don’t stay focused, you get hurt.”

Sylvain (four strikeouts, two walks) found his groove after the third, allowing just two hits over the final four innings, both to Duley. Morin helped his cause in the sixth with a nice sliding catch in right to rob Gilbert of a hit, then threw from his rear end to double-up a runner at first base.

Four-year starter Marcue and Jonathan Wheaton had two hits apiece, as did Sylvain and Vigue, for the Indians.