By MATT SCHUCKMAN

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

The scoreboard didn't show it and no one dared tell him, but by the fifth inning Saturday, Moline right-hander Chris Larsen knew exactly how many hits the Quincy High School baseball team had.

"But I tried not to think about that," Larsen said.

So he left the official count to those in the Maroons' dugout.

"They knew what was going on, and some guys were in there telling everybody not to say anything," Larsen said. "So I was getting the silent treatment for a while."

There was nothing quiet, however, about the way he pitched.

Larsen tossed the first no-hitter of his high school career, beating Quincy 8-0 in the first game of a Western Big Six Conference doubleheader at the QHS field.

Teammate Evan Lawrence nearly matched Larsen pitch-for-pitch, tossing a two-hitter in an 8-0 victory in the nightcap.

"We were completely dominated by a much better team than us," Quincy coach Randy Mettemeyer said. "They outpitched us. They outhit us. They outfielded us. They are a much better team than us right now. We have a long way to go to be able to compete at that level."

Few teams, though, are going to have success against Larsen.

With the velocity on his fastball consistently in the mid- to upper-80s, he struck out five of the first seven batters he faced and mowed down two in the seventh inning. He finished with nine strikeouts and no walks.

Quincy hit the ball out of the infield just twice.

"He was probably the fastest pitcher I've seen," QHS center fielder John Wert said.

Or any of the Blue Devils had seen.

"It was tough to adjust," said Wert, who went 0 for 3 with a strikeout, a popout and a groundout. "We have to get around quicker."

Quincy (2-7, 0-2) can't play from behind either.

Moline (7-4, 2-0) scored twice in the first inning by taking advantage of a leadoff walk to Thomas Lindauer, an error on Grant Jasper's sacrifice bunt and a two-out double to center field by Larsen.

In fact, the Maroons scored in each of the first three innings as the leadoff hitter walked and was sacrificed in.

"It's definitely easier to pitch when you know there are going to be runs behind you," said Larsen, who collected three of Moline's 10 hits. "All you have to do is throw strikes and get outs."

Lawrence did that in the nightcap, retiring 11 of the first 12 batters faced and finishing with five strikeouts and one walk. It wasn't until pinch-hitter Matt VonderHaar doubled into the left-field corner with two outs in the fourth inning that Quincy had its first hit.

Stuart Roderick added a single in the sixth as the Blue Devils collectively went 2 for 45.

"We're more frustrated than mad," Wert said. "We know we were better than what we showed. We kind of embarrassed ourselves. We have to learn from what we did today, and we have to go out and swing the bats."

Moline didn't hesitate to do that.

Three sharp singles and aggressive baserunning led to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, while Ethan Naab added a two-run single in the second. Back-to-back hits by Gabe Favela and Mark Thomas to open the third inning made it 6-0.

"It just felt like we had a lot of people on base," said Moline coach Derek Lindauer, whose team took advantage of 21 hits, eight walks and two hit batters. "We were productive up and down the lineup.

"We even had productive outs. I thought we did a nice job moving runners. We did a lot of good things today."

Nothing topped the way Larsen and Lawrence pitched ahead in the count.

Neither threw more than 70 pitches and they threw first-pitch strikes to 40 of 49 batters. In comparison, Quincy pitchers threw first-pitch strikes to just 39 of 78 batters.

"I thought we had the right guys on the mound today," Lindauer said. "They are both experienced and know what to expect. And I thought they did a nice job pounding the strike zone."

-- mschuckman@whig.com/221-3366