MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. ---- The Massasoit baseball team dropped its season opener, falling to Illinois Valley CC, 12-9, on Saturday night at the Ripken Complex.

Offensively, the Warriors (0-1) showed plenty of patience in their first game of 2018, drawing 10 walks and being hit by a pitch three times. The nine runs scored, off five hits, proved to not be enough as Massasoit stranded 10 runners on base and gave up 10 runs in the first three frames.

Down 10-4 in the bottom half of the fourth, the Warriors rallied to score three times in the inning, thanks to a RBI single from Ricky Sherlock (Whitman) and two-run double by Aiden O'Neill (Halifax), marking his first collegiate hit.

In the last of the seventh, trailing 12-7, Massasoit tacked on two more runs thanks to an IVCC error, but could get no closer.

Massasoit received a strong pitching performance in relief from freshman James Sneyd of Scituate. The righty went the final four frames in his first collegiate outing, allowing only one earned run off three hits, while fanning three.

Sophomore Preston Rankin (Oak Harbor, Wash.) reached base in all four plate appearances, with a single, walk and two hit by pitches. Luke DiTondo (Marshfield) also knocked in a run for the Warriors, which return to the diamond on Sunday at 3 PM to face Leigh Carbon CC.

Notes:

The 10 walks drawn by the Warriors marked the most since their spring training trip to Myrtle Beach last season, when they walked 10 times in a 19-11 victory vs Westmoreland County CC (3/16/17).