On the first day of their 2024 campaign, the Ocean State Waves were unable to outlast the Westerners in Danbury with a 3-1 loss to open up their season.

A back and forth battle of baserunning in the beginning, both sides combated to bring runs across despite tallying no hits through the first three innings. Ocean State’s Matthew Alduino got the start in the contest and worked his way through three innings unscathed, allowing no earned runs and striking out five batters.

The Waves pitching staff as a whole dismissed many batters on strikes. Alduino along with Joseph Hauser, AJ Jones and Jeremy Urena combined for 13 strikeouts. The high erase rate from the Ocean State arms was not able to keep Danbury at bay for long though. Hayden Miller launched a home run over the right-center field wall, bringing in Michael Iannazzo along with him, granting the Westerners a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.

The Waves were able to string hits together sporadically throughout the remainder of the contest, although a total of six batters left on base for the remaining duration resulted in limited offense. Ocean State only brought one run across in the remaining innings when Tristan Head knocked a single into shallow right field in the top of the eighth, scoring Eric Fernandez from second base.

Joe Stella was able to slide over home plate in the top of the eighth after the Waves defense chased down another baserunner, extending their lead by one more heading into the final chapter of the game.

A final stranded runner in the top of the ninth gave Danbury the win, sending the Waves back to Rhode Island to prepare for their home opener.

Ocean State continues their season at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow when they travel to Newport to face the Gulls at Cardines Field.