Less than a day after suffering its first conference loss of the season, No. 2 Archbishop Spalding bounced back in emphatic fashion Thursday afternoon.

The Cavaliers pounded out 13 hits, including a pair of home runs from Peter Godrick, and got a dominant outing from pitcher Nick Vermillion on the way to a 12-1 road victory over No. 14 Mount Saint Joseph in five innings.

On the heels of dropping an 8-5 decision Wednesday against Gilman, where Spalding allowed all eight runs in one inning, Cavaliers coach Joe Palumbo was pleased with the ability of his players to move forward.

“It was a great response, and after the game yesterday I told them you have to have a short memory. And that’s the great thing about baseball, you get to turnaround and play again very quickly and show what you’ve learned from your mistakes,” Palumbo said. “I thought we did a great job today of getting back to playing our game.”

Spalding improved to 2-1 in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference play and 3-2 overall with the win, while Mount Saint Joseph fell to 0-2 in conference play and 2-4 overall.

The Gaels, who took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Jack Stilling scored on a groundout by Ethan Gallagher, managed just three hits on the day.

“Today was their day, they did what they needed to do on both offense and defense. I think [Nick] threw well for them, made some pitches when he needed to and we missed some pitches when we had chances,” Mount Saint Joseph coach Rod Cameron said.

The Cavaliers’ senior pitcher struck out seven batters on the day, allowing just three base runners after the first inning. Palumbo said having him on the mound provided confidence.

“Obviously having a senior on the mound who has been in these battles before was huge for us. Especially the way he’s been pitching for us early on this year,” he said.

As for Godrick, the junior center fielder had been batting leadoff to start the year but was bumped down to the sixth spot against the Gaels. He responded with a pair of long balls over the fence in left field to pace the team’s offense.

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