WEARE — The offense has come and gone for head coach Dennis Pelletier’s team through the first three weeks of the 2024 season, but John Stark baseball’s pitching and defense have been more than stout.

On Wednesday in a 2-0 win over Bow, junior Chase Philibotte tossed six shutout innings, allowed five hits, no runs and three walks and struck out nine, and senior Anthony Paolicelli slammed the door in the top of the seventh, striking out the side. The Falcons (5-3) put pressure on the Generals’ defense, loading the bases in the first inning and having multiple runners reach in the third and fourth, but Philibotte successfully wiggled his way out of trouble each time.

“Those guys are damn good,” Pelletier said of his pitchers. “Our pitching’s been spot on because that’s the part we worked on the most, being inside a lot.

“But our hitters did face our pitchers. Our pitchers are facing live hitting, even in February when we were doing our group workouts. And I think that’s really helped us get ready right now.”

The performance from John Stark was part of what’s turned into a pattern this season. Now 8-0 to start the year, the Generals have outscored their opponents 60-8, and they’ve held their opponents to one run or fewer in seven of the eight wins.

“We had plenty of opportunities to win that baseball game; we just didn’t hit,” Bow head coach Ben Forbes said. “We loaded the bases in the first inning with nobody out. Not taking anything away from them; they played a solid game. They got out of jams all day.

“We just are not getting the timely hitting that we need. We played defense well enough. We pitched well enough. We did everything well enough to win that ballgame except hit with runners in scoring position.”

In the first inning when Bow loaded the bases, Philibotte induced a ground ball off the bat of Sean Guerrette. Hit to the right of shortstop Hunter Keim, he fielded cleanly and fired to second to get the force out and end the threat.

It was by no means a routine play, and it was just the latest example of why it’s so hard to scratch runs across against this team.

“If you get good pitching and good defense, you’ve always got a shot, and that’s why I believe we’re in every game,” Pelletier said. “Hunter Keim made a beautiful play there in that first inning with the bases loaded, coming up and being able to throw to second like that. That’s a great play. That’s a kid that’s going to play college baseball next year (at Suffolk University), and that’s one of the advantages we’ve had over the years now.

“We have a lot of that caliber player that’s going to play at the next level, that really wants to play at the next level, that works hard in the offseason and gets ready.”

Meanwhile, the Falcons also turned in a similarly respectable effort on the mound and in the field, limiting the Generals to just the two runs. Junior Dillon Abbate started and pitched 3⅔ innings, allowed five hits, two runs, didn’t walk a batter and struck out two. In relief, senior Sean Guerrette didn’t allow a run in 2⅓ innings of work.

Coming through with runners in scoring position at the plate, though, will continue to be a focus.

“We’re taking too many good pitches, swinging at too many bad pitches and thinking too much at the plate,” Forbes said.

“Really, I think a lot of it’s going to be the mental approach. They gotta go up with a hitter’s attitude and not an attitude of hoping that they don’t make a mistake. They can’t be afraid to make a mistake. They just gotta go play.”

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Bow junior Owen Cray pitched in relief of Abbate.