Waterford — Ken Turner's words describing the last time he'd set foot on the baseball field on which he stood Tuesday afternoon:

"As ugly as it gets."

It was two years ago in the state high school baseball tournament, long before Turner committed to the University of Hartford, long before he commanded his breaking ball like a master puppeteer. Turner and his Ledyard teammates lost to Waterford that day, 10-0.

"I thought about it the whole bus ride here," Turner said late Tuesday afternoon, following perhaps the best day of his career.

He pitched a no-hitter — 13 strikeouts, one walk — and led the fourth-ranked Colonels to a 1-0 win over the No. 10 Lancers in a crisp one-hour, 26 minutes.

Turner, who has allowed one run this season, hit 90 on the gun in the first inning and was consistently at 88 in the seventh.

"People always ask me what I was like at his age," Ledyard coach Scott Chiasson, who pitched for the Cubs, was saying after the game. "I was nowhere near this kid. Not in the same country. I didn't have a breaking ball at his age. Kenny's been off the charts good."

The beauty of Tuesday's game: Turner's counterpart, fellow future Hartford right-hander Jared Burrows, was nearly as good, finishing with a three-hitter and 12 strikeouts.

"Jared shoved the bats you know where for most of this game, too," Chiasson said. "Art (Waterford coach Art Peluso) and I were talking before the game that maybe one run wins this game. We're fortunate we got one because Jared was really good, too."

With two outs in the third, Waterford's Ben Jerome hit a high chopper to third. The ball was bobbled, although there was a chance Jerome would have beaten the throw the ball been fielded cleanly. Peluso and the home scorebook ruled it an error. Ryan Bakken's sinking line drive to second base in the seventh inning was the only other time the Lancers came close to a hit.

Ledyard scored in the fourth off Burrows. Turner singled, stole second and was trying to steal third when Waterford transfer Pete Kiefer singled to left, scoring Turner easily. Kiefer nearly haunted his old team in the first, too, sending a long fly ball to the warning track in right.

"We figured Kenny could steal third there," Chiasson said. "We needed to a make something happen."

And that's all Turner needed.

"Kenny got some retribution today," Chiasson said, alluding to the 10-0 loss in the tournament two years ago.

It doesn't get any easier for the Lancers, who travel to No. 5 Amity on Wednesday. Ryan O'Connell will pitch.

"Turner was really good," Peluso said. "Now I know how it felt for other trams when they faced Michael Burrows (now pitching in the Pirates organization). But Jared was just as good. Hey, we won a 1-0 game last week and lost one today. Now (Wednesday) we get on a bus and play another really good team. But I'll tell you, I like the guy we have pitching for us a lot."

m.dimauro@theday.com