STAMFORD - His coach, D.J. Mulvany, had just walked to the mound and taken the ball from his hand, so Westhill High School pitcher T.J. Hickey began to walk slowly back to his bench in the top of the fourth inning yesterday. He left the field with a shocked expression on his face, as if he had just seen a ghost.

Unfortunately for Hickey, those Stamford High hitters were alive and real. But the senior right-hander might have felt like he was indeed watching a horror movie as yesterday's Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference baseball showdown at Westhill's J. Walter Kennedy Sports Complex unfolded.

Hickey, the Vikings' ace and undoubtedly one of the top pitchers in the FCIAC, had every reason to look and feel shell-shocked. He had just allowed seven runs and eight hits in three-plus innings. The Black Knights kept up the onslaught, finishing with 16 hits on their way to a 12-7 victory that ended Westhill's two-year run as city champions.

"That," a dejected Hickey said after the game, "is one of the best lineups I've ever faced."

Hickey, among others, thought he might be involved in a pitcher's duel yesterday. Opposing Hickey, who entered the game with a 4-0 record, was one of Stamford's tri-aces, Gavin McCullough, who was also 4-0. But the old adage that good pitching beats good hitting never materialized yesterday.

Maybe that shouldn't have surprised anyone.

"From top to bottom, there isn't an easy out in their lineup," Mulvany said after his 12-4 team (10-4 FCIAC) dropped its second straight game and now must face undefeated Fairfield Ludlowe tomorrow. "No doubt about it, Stamford is as good as advertised."

The Knights (15-1, 13-1) won their ninth in a row and did so in resounding fashion.

McCullough pitched 52Ú3 solid innings and also led the offense with four hits and two RBIs.

"It's a great feeling to get all those runs," said McCullough who allowed one earned run in 52Ú3 innings. "It gave me a real comfort zone. The real impressive thing about what we did today, though, is that we did it against a great pitcher."

McCullough was one of five Knights who had a multiple-hit game. Anthony Pandone and Carl Battinelli each had three hits and two RBIs, Luke Anderson had two hits and four RBIs, and Todd Savatsky, who relieved McCullough and got the final four outs, added two hits.

"Our lineup is so strong, top to bottom," Stamford coach Bobby Augustyn said. The Knights have now scored 175 runs in 16 games (11 runs per game). "We have Luke Anderson batting seventh and Matt Gencarelli eighth and they always come through. And Pandone, he's really the unsung hero. But Westhill is a high-scoring team, too. They have outstanding athletes up and down the lineup. There is no weak link."

The Vikings, who have scored 129 runs in 16 games (8 per game), took a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI single by Bobby Horn (two hits). In the third, Hickey allowed four straight hits, although only one, by Greg Palumbo, was hit hard. McCullough and Pandone had RBI hits in the inning but Hickey added to his woes with a walk and a hit batsman, each coming with the bases loaded.

"T.J. was pressing a bit but he usually finds a way to get out of trouble," Mulvany said. "He was a little frustrated today. He didn't have his best stuff."

"I couldn't get my slider or change-up over so I had to come with my fastball," Hickey added. "They got some lucky bounces (in the third inning) but they kept hitting the ball. Sometimes the cookie crumbles that way."

Hickey's cookie crumbled to smithereens in the fourth when the Knights scored five more runs (three charged to Hickey) after David Fogel's RBI double keyed a two-run Westhill rally in the third.

Savatsky and McCullough ripped line drive hits in the fourth, ending Hickey's day. Pandone, Battinelli and Anderson greeted reliever Bruce Macbeth with three more line shots. Later, Sean Cribbin capped the five-run rally with an RBI single.

Battinelli's RBI double made it 10-3 in the fifth.

Westhill showed some life in the sixth, knocking out McCullough on hits by Sean Mullins (two hits) and Fogel (two hits, three RBIs) before Bobby Migliazza (three hits) had an RBI single off Savatsky.

But Stamford completed the scoring in the seventh on Anderson's two-run double off Joey Comunale, who struck out five in his 22Ú3 innings of work.

Now that the regular-season city showdown is history, a sequel may be in the works for later this month in the playoffs. Hickey expects a similar horror theme if they meet, but one, he hopes, comes with a new twist.

"Tell them," he said. "'we'll see you in the playoffs, and then we're going to get you back.'"