WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Hartford High and Fair Haven baseball teams played long and loose Wednesday during a contest featuring a combined 24 runs, 17 hits, 12 walks, eight errors and a slew of chattering teeth.

Scoring in the VPA Division II game occurred during every inning but the sixth as temperatures dipped into the 40s and those in a sparse Maxfield Sports Complex gathering wondered if June could really be fewer than two weeks away. Multiple fly balls, foul balls and pop ups were misplayed during the 2½-hour game, but the Hurricanes eventually prevailed, 17-7, in six innings.

Carter Williams and Cody Hathorn each had three of Hartford’s 12 hits, the former also drawing two walks and driving in five runs. Hathorn earned one free pass, smacked a double and drove in one run.

Tate Mosenthal had two hits and an RBI and walked twice. The lithe junior hit a triple and stole four bases. Hugh Wendling had two hits and two RBIs. The Hurricanes (6-6) clinched their fifth consecutive Southern Vermont League B title while dropping the visitors to 3-9.

Hartford starting pitcher Lucas Schwarz (1-2) allowed four hits and seven runs, only one of them earned, during four innings. The junior right-hander struck out six Slaters and walked four with an assortment of slow-moving pitches. He was relieved by sidewinder Colby Luca, who allowed one hit while striking out two foes and walking none.

“They were pitching to contact, which is what we wanted them to do,” said fourth-year Hartford coach Bill Vielleux. “We’re not looking for 10 strikeouts a game, but if we can field the ball behind them, we’ll be solid.”

In defense of the Hurricanes’ fielders, they’re not always accustomed to action. Wyatt Chambers has allowed just 19 hits in 34 innings while recording 83 of his 112 outs via strikeout. The 6-foot-3 sophomore is 4-1 and has a 0.62 ERA, sparked by his throwing first-pitch strikes 70% of the time.

“He’s a special talent,” said Vielleux, who has regular chats with the Tunbridge resident about carrying himself with maturity. “He’s had to grow up faster than most sophomores.”

Vielleux inherited a well-stocked program four years ago and guided it to last season’s division semifinals. Eight seniors, six of them starters, graduated soon after, leaving this spring’s bunch a bit wet around the ears.

Hathorn, a sophomore second baseman, brings good fielding and what his coach describes as “a strong baseball mind” to the team. Mosenthal has the speed and range to erase potential hits in center field while giving opponent jitters on the bases. He’s hitting a team-best .440.

Senior Solly Flores’ pitching has been curtailed by a shoulder injury, but he’s hitting .429 while playing right field.

“We had to get some early experience on the fly against tough teams,” said Vielleux, whose club lost four of its first six games but has won four of its last five. “We took our lumps, but that was expected.”

Hartford is battling to earn a home-field game during the playoffs’ first round. Its final three regular-season contests are against Division I members Mount Anthony (10-2) and Burr & Burton (7-4-1) and Division III Windsor (1-10).

Regardless of how the postseason unfolds, Vielleux is excited for upcoming seasons. Forty-one boys tried out for the high school program’s three teams, the middle school also fields three squads and local youth players flock to a four-field layout at Maxfield.

“Playing in this beautiful complex doesn’t hurt,” Vielleux said. “Kids grow up seeing this field and wanting to play under the lights. The future looks very bright.”

Notes: Mat Pause, the catcher on Hartford’s 2009 state championship team and manager of the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Upper Valley Nighthawks, made public-address announcements Wednesday. … Plate umpire Bob Snarski, 63, served 34 years in education and retired in 2018 as a Clarendon, Vt., fourth grade teacher. Past items on his resume include 22 years in the U.S. Army reserves, serving in the Shrewsbury, Vt., volunteer fire department for roughly four decades, coaching Mill River High’s baseball team and officiating high school soccer games.

Tris Wykes can be reached at ctwykes@aol.com.