The King Low Heywood Thomas and Greens Farms Academy baseball teams spent their spring breaks in Orlando, tuning up for the season in the warm Florida sun. So it was understandable that an Opening Day that barely cracked 40 degrees on Tuesday led to cold hands and stiff defense. The two teams combined for eight errors, but the team that took advantage of them was King.

The Vikings scored five runs in the fourth inning off three GFA errors, chasing Dragons starter Henry Van Zant from the game. Senior co-captain Scott Huley struck out six and allowed just two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched as King started its 2011 season over its Fairchester Athletic Association rival, 12-6.

"To be honest I thought this was going to be a low-scoring game, so I had [catcher R.J. Moavero] bunt in the first inning," King head coach Ken Lewis said. "Then all of sudden it opened up. I was very happy with our hitters today, and our pitchers did what they had to do. It was just one of those days."

For the first three innings, it appeared Lewis' prediction of a low-scoring game would come true. Tied at two entering the bottom of the third, the Greens Farms defense fell apart.

The Vikings scored three runs off just one hit in the inning. The fifth was almost identical as the Dragons ran into more defensive troubles. King plated five more runners off four singles and three more GFA errors.

Huley was dominant in the first four innings before the icy breeze plaguing the game led to control issues. He relied mostly on an effective fastball, locating it to all parts of the plate. "It was a little change in weather from Florida, pitching today," Huley said. "I was just trying to throw strikes today and when I did I was pretty effective."

Shortstop Joe Santoro led the Vikings offense going two-for-two with two walks, an RBI and four runs scored. Cleanup hitter Zach Mullhern went three-for-four with three RBI and nearly had an inside-the-park home run in the sixth but was tagged out at the plate.

King next plays Saturday when it hosts Millbrook School in a nonleague game.

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