The Valley Central baseball team had two bad innings, and the Pine Bush Bushmen took full advantage.

The Vikings made two errors in the first inning, leading to four Pine Bush runs, and another error in the fifth that helped contribute to seven more Pine Bush runs as the Bushmen beat the Vikings, 12-2, on Thursday in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II baseball game at Valley Central high school in Montgomery.

The game ended after five innings due to the 10-run rule.

“The team has been playing pretty well,” Pine Bush coach Matt Boffalo said. “We’re trying to find our identity. I think we did. We had a good week this week, and hopefully we will keep it rolling.”

It took Valley Central pitcher Jason Murphy seven batters to record an out. By then, the Bushmen already had a 4-0 lead, as two runs scored when Pine Bush’s Mike DeSena reached on an error and then Connor Stacklum sent two more home with a double to center field.

Murphy got his first out when he struck out Michael Jacques, but his second out produced the fifth run when Triston Santos hit a sacrifice fly to left field.

“We were kicking the ball around,” Valley Central coach Robert Leonard said. “Like I said in the beginning of the year, you’ve got to make plays. We made plays last week, and we didn’t make any plays this week. You’ve got to make plays.”

The Bushmen’s big inning gave pitcher Alex Bucolo a five-run cushion before he even took the mound.

“They got the bats early, and it really helped me settle in,” Bucolo said. “But I think the whole time, I had to keep focused on the game.”

The Vikings only got to Bucolo twice. The Vikings’ leadoff man, Chris Byrne singled to start the bottom of the first inning and then took second on a wild pitch, all while Bucolo tried to find his groove and a way to keep his cap on his head.

“I had to fix that, but once I settled in, it was good from there,” Bucolo said.

Byrne took third when John Scotto grounded out to third base and scored on Murphy’s groundout to first base. The Vikings got to Bucolo again in the fifth inning, when Will Quinn reached on an infield single to start the fifth and scored on Scotto’s double to left field.

Bucolo allowed four hits, walked one and struck out five.

“He had command of three pitches today, which was good,” Boffalo said. “He was low in the zone. A couple of their hitters squared him up, but we were able to play clean defense.”

The Viking’s defense was anything but clean, amassing four total errors. Three of the five runs in the first inning were unearned.

Murphy settled in, holding the Bushmen scoreless over the next four innings, and finishing with a walk and three strikeouts.

“Once he settles, he’s pretty good,” Leonard said. We just didn’t help him in the first inning. I think we had four errors in the first inning and then it snowballed. You can’t do that at this level.”

De Sena and Stacklum doubled to start the inning producing another run, and after Mike Weed singled, Leonard went to Bello, who allowed four runs on four hits. Jacques bunted a run home, Santos scored on a wild pitch and De Sena drove in a run with a base hit.

It was the end of a strong week for the Bushmen, who won all three of their games by at least eight runs, the last two ended after five innings.

“I think right now we’re in a good spot,” Boffalo said. “We need to keep continuing to climb that ladder. We’re going to have days where we’re off, but we have to make sure that we’re playing our best baseball in May.”

The Vikings, meanwhile, saw their fortunes reverse in a hurry. Just a week after convincing wins over Minisink Valley, Newburgh and Monroe-Woodbury, the Vikings were beaten by Warwick 14-7 on April 18 before losing to Pine Bush on Thursday.

“Hopefully, we can clean it up next week and change our attitudes,” Leonard said. “We just got to play better and put the ball in play.”