Staff photo / Dan Hiner Grand Valley pitcher Carter Turk delivers during the first inning of Monday’s game against Lordstown at Lordstown High School.

LORDSTOWN — The Grand Valley and Lordstown baseball teams are on opposite ends of the development scale. Grand Valley usually contends for the conference title, while Lordstown is trying to rebuild its program.

The state of the two programs was on display Monday, with the Mustangs beating Lordstown 20-0 at Lordstown High School.

“We struggle to make adjustments at times to guys who are a little slower than we’re used to, but we did a decent job today,” Grand Valley head coach Zach Sirrine said. “I think we learned well from the guys who weren’t at bat. They were observant, we learned from what happened in the first inning.”

Trenton Murduck singled to center to start the game and Cooper Plizga then reached on a dropped popup at third base. The runners advanced on a double steal, and both eventually scored on wild pitches.

Carter Turk drew a leadoff walk in the top of the second, and Ryan Began pulled a single down the third-base line to put runners on the corner. Nick Barbieri pulled a pitch down the right-field line to score Turk and keep runners on first and third.

Gage Mast drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. A one-out popup from Plizga fell just behind second for an RBI single, and an error at shortstop extended the Grand Valley (3-1) lead to 5-0. Carl Krieg followed with a two-RBI single to left field. Then Blake Taylor pushed another run across with a sacrifice fly to center.

A flyball to left from Turk fell just outside the reach of the defender, allowing another run to score and pushing the Mustang lead to 7-0. Then Began reached on a second fielding error at shortstop. A wild pitch allowed Turk to score, and Barbieri and Mast drew two-out walks to load the bases.

Murduck drew a third walk in a row to force home a run and increase the lead to 9-0.

The Red Devils (0-4) made a pitching change, putting Walker Burbridge on the mound. But Plizga forced home another run on a second consecutive bases-loaded free pass to end the scoring in the second, with Grand Valley ahead 10-0.

“We’re not (fielding a) varsity, JV and freshmen (programs), and COVID really hurt us. We had no younger players playing baseball,” Lordstown head coach Mitch Blake said. “What you’re seeing now are guys trying to play varsity baseball with no baseball experience.

“It’s been a joy teaching them, and it may not look like it at first, but they’re making plays and learning baseball, and that’s the main objective. They’re gonna learn this game and have a good time doing it, and we’re gonna knock somebody off here pretty soon.”

Krieg and Taylor were hit with pitches to start the top of the third, and Turk followed with a walk to load the bases. Barbieri cleared the bases with a three-run double to right-center field. A bloop single to right by Quinn Newell scored Barbieri, and an infield single from Plizga loaded the bases again.

Nate Hostetler drew a bases-loaded walk to score another run to increase the Mustangs’ lead to 15-0, and Krieg was hit by a pitch, pushing across the 16th run. Turk cleared the bases again with a double to left, making the score 19-0.

The Mustangs loaded the bases again in the fifth and added one more run to cap the scoring.

Grand Valley hasn’t gotten a chance to play much due to the weather, but it will have a couple tests later this week. The Mustangs will face two of the NAC’s better teams in St. John and Windham.

“Baseball’s very much a rhythm sport. It’s tough when you don’t play very consistently to find that rhythm,” Sirrine said. “We’re lucky enough, we got turf that we can practice on. We can get outside, but it doesn’t really compare to playing actual games. So we’re looking forward to getting a string of games in here.”