The Martha's Vineyard Sharks hosted the season opener Tuesday, falling 4-1 to the reigning league champions, the Newport Gulls.

The Sharks aimed to start the season strong, by peppering balls throughout the field. Chris Hacopian, the freshman Maryland infielder, activated that plan in the first inning. Hacopian, batting second, laced the first pitch he saw to deep right center field, taking a couple bounces before being collected by the Gulls center fielder. Hacopian strolled into second standing up, encouraging his teammates to follow suit.

Unfortunately for the Sharks, the mere opposite occurred. Following Hacopian's double, the next 14 Sharks hitters were retired, eight by strikeout. Adam Maher, the Newport Gulls opening day pitcher, proved his candidacy as the number one, going six innings, and allowing just two hits. Maher's performance was exemplified by his third inning, in which he struck out the side on 15 total pitches. Those three strikeouts were just 1/4 of Maher's total K's on the evening, finishing with 12 of the 18 outs he recorded. 

The Sharks lone run came in the seventh, when catcher William Lybrook took the first pitch he saw in the at bat well over the left field fence. Lybrook, a Harvard standout, earned a second team all-Ivy selection with his impressive junior year, in which he hit .359 with five long balls.

But ultimately, Lybrook's solo shot would not match the four total runs Newport put together. The Gulls hitting performance was catalyzed by thier leadoff hitter and second baseman, Garrett Staton. Staton, in his first at bat, shot the ball down the left field line for a leadoff double. Staton advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a fielder's choice the very next pitch. Not satisfied with self-engineering the first run of the season, Staton launched a two-run homer in the top of the sixth. His fourth at bat in the eighth capped off his performance, sending a 2-1 fastball into the right-center gap for his second double. He would come around to score for the third time thanks to a advancing groundout and sacrifice fly. Staton not only scored two of the four runs, but drove in the third and fourth thanks to his sixth inning dinger.

The Sharks pitching held up very well, allowing just three hits outside of Staton's impressive, two RBI, two run night.

However, maybe the most impressive feat of the night came in the amount of broken lumber. In total the teams combined for four broken bats, including a triple break in the top of the sixth inning, Two halves of the barrel split off the handle, spiraling into the field of Sharks fielders. Fortunately, they landed harmlessly, almost symmetrically on either side of the mound. The Sharks matched the amount of broken bats with thier total hits, at four. 

While the first game of the 2024 NECBL season may not have shown in the win column for the Sharks, they will have 43 more opportunities before playoffs on August 1st. Next, they host the Bristol Blues, Wednesday at 6:35p.m.