What a difference a day makes. 

After demolishing Marshfield High School on Wednesday by a score of 17-3, the Dragons came home on Thursday afternoon to take on defending Division II State champion Plymouth North at Chandler Field.

While the Eagles (12-8) are nowhere near their perfect (28-0) record of 2008, they still possess right-handed pitching phenom Joe Flynn, who continues to be one of the best pitchers in Massachusetts, if not in all New England.

The Dragons faced the fireballer for the second time this year in non-league action, and this time he was even better than in the opener, as he threw a no-hitter against Duxbury and struck out 14 Dragons to earn the win.

Fortunately for Duxbury, junior pitcher Jeff Blout was also on top of his game, as he allowed just one run through five innings, the winner coming in the second when Phil Cash hit a two-out double to bring home Matt Walsh, who had singled and stole second.

Duxbury had few chances to score on Flynn, with one of their best coming in the bottom of the first when sophomore Phil Sciretta reached second on an error, but was picked off to end the inning.

After that, Flynn retired eight batters in a row until Sciretta walked in the bottom of the fourth and was stranded.

The Eagles would get an insurance run in the top of the sixth when they manufactured a run on a single, a walk, a sacrifice, and a sacrifice fly to the outfield to make it 2-0.

Duxbury was waving at Flynn all night long, as the Dragons could not catch up to his 88-90 mph fastball. Opening the sixth with consecutive strikeouts made it six straight for the right-hander until Sean Cross grounded out to break his streak and end the inning.

Blout began to tire in the top of the seventh, as he walked the first batter who promptly stole second when the throw was dropped. The next batter followed with a bunt, and he also took off for second base putting men at second and third with no one out.

Dan Fratus stepped to the plate and crushed a double to right field that brought home both base runners, ending any hopes for a Duxbury comeback.

The loss leaves Duxbury with a 14-6 record, as they get ready for this week’s Division II South Sectional play-offs that get underway on Thursday.

“I think we’re ready,” said Coach Barney Earle. “We wanted to play well this week and we did. We accomplished a lot. We had a great game against Hingham, hit the ball well against Marshfield, and then ran into a buzz saw with Flynn. There are a bunch of teams right around us with five or six losses, so I’m not quite sure where we will be seeded, but I hope we get a home game to start off.”