With five games in the opening week of the season, Towson baseball expects to learn a lot about itself in a hurry.

In the season’s third game Monday at Baltimore County rival Perry Hall, the Generals proved efficient in the important phases.

Pitcher Jacob Dudley was throwing strikes, the defense behind him played cleanly and the offense generated runs early to lead Towson to a sturdy 6-1 win over the host Gators.

Dudley went all seven innings, allowing one run on four hits with third baseman Mason Fisher highlighting the team’s fine glove work. A two-run second inning featuring a leadoff triple by Gavin Dickens, consecutive singles from Calder Uong and David Jeon, and Dylan Galli’s sacrifice fly provided all the runs needed as the Generals improved to 2-1 on the season.

“We lost a lot of seniors, so we’re trying to find ourselves as a team and make a new identity for ourselves,” said Dudley, who also plays catcher and first base. “Today, I was just looking to work ahead [in the count] and give our guys a chance to make a play. I didn’t finish with a lot of strikeouts, but made some good pitches and everyone on defense balled out. So it was a team effort for the win.”

The infield is entirely new for the Generals and, after a shaky first game defensively in an 8-7 loss to Parkville on Friday, they rebounded well in beating Manchester Valley on Saturday. On Monday, the plan was for Dudley, leaning on his fastball and curveball, to throw strikes.

The Gators put the ball in play plenty, but the Generals responded. Fisher had six assists and started a double play, and first baseman Connor Pratt did well to dig out some throws in the dirt.

Dudley surrendered his first hit in the fourth inning, but by then the Generals had a 5-0 lead and took a shutout into the sixth. Aside from watching a couple of blunders on the bases from his Generals, coach Shawn Tormey saw plenty of positives. Jeon led the offense with two singles and one run.

“It’s March and we all want to be the top seed and host playoff games. But the bottom line is you’re going to be in the bracket, so use these games to find out about your teams and that’s what we’re doing,” Tormey said.

“Today’s outing was throw strikes and Jacob did just that. Pitch to contact and, that’s the thing, If we tell our pitchers to pitch to contact, you got to play defense and that’s what we did today.”

Perry Hall, which only had 16 players try out with a roster of 13, also is looking to find its way as it falls to 0-2. Cam Cooke broke up Dudley’s no-hit bid with a single in the fourth and then spoiled the shutout with a run-producing groundout in the sixth to drive in the Gators’ only run.

Both teams have league games at 4 p.m. Tuesday with Towson hosting Dulaney and Perry Hall traveling to Hereford.

Have a news tip? Contact Glenn Graham at ggraham@baltsun.com, 410-332-6636 and x.com/GlennGrahamSun.