ON THE MOUND — Big Red starting pitcher Matt Fabbro delivers a pitch against Claymont during Friday's season opener. Fabbro fired a complete game with 12 strikeouts. - Andrew Grimm

There were both in the Big Red baseball team’s season opener against Claymont Friday night at the Crimson Complex, which went to the visiting Mustangs by a 4-2 score.

The positives were Big Red putting up nine hits, making a couple nice plays in the field and a strong performance from starting pitcher Matt Fabbro.

The negatives, though, were four errors and some mistakes, as could be expected in a season debut with two freshmen in the lineup and guys playing new positions/roles, and eight men left on base as the big hit with runners in scoring position did not come.

“We’ve got some stuff to work on, but we battled and never gave in,” veteran Big Red head coach Fred Heatherington, who started season 36, said. “We had too many fly balls, our bunt game was good, we had two bunts for base hits, but we were popping the ball up too much.

TURNING TWO — Big Red second baseman Nolan Blackburn throws to first to complete a double play during Friday's season opener. - Andrew Grimm

“It’s the first game of the year, we’ve got a long way to go.”

The difference, as it ended up, was a tough start to the game as Claymont put up two runs in the first inning, all without getting a base hit. The first two batters drew walks, one scoring on a passed ball and a second run on an error, though the ground ball likely would have scored the run without the miscue.

“We walked two guys in the first and they both scored, we picked two guys off and didn’t get them and they both scored,” Heatherington said. “That was their four runs, they shouldn’t have had any but they did and that’s the way it goes.

“We need to come out a little more focused for the first inning, the first inning is just as important as the seventh.”

From there, the Mustangs were held to just a single run in each the third and seventh as Fabbro settled in and finished with a complete game effort, striking out 12 batters. He did not issue another walk after the first inning.

“He settled in and did a great job,” Heatherington said. “I told him after the first he threw a great game.”

Big Red looked poised to answer right back in the bottom of the first, loading the bases with one out, but Claymont pitcher Nate Downing got a popup and a strikeout, his first of seven in a complete game of his own, to end the threat.

Down 3-0 going to the bottom of the third, Steubenville did get on the board, as Fabbro led off with a single and scored from first when a Myles Cooper base knock into right was misplayed, allowing Fabbro to score and Cooper to get over the third.

Nolan Blackburn then got Big Red within one with a sac fly one batter later, making it 3-2.

Big Red threatened with a runner on second in the fourth, and had two on in the sixth, but did not get any more runs across before the Mustangs added an insurance run in the top of the seventh.

Maddox Gulan had three of Big Red’s nine hits, all singles, while Cooper had a pair of base knocks.

Claymont 4, Steubenville 2

C 2-0-1 0-0-0 1 – 4 3 1

S 0-0-2 0-0-0 0 – 2 9 4

CLAYMONT (1-0):Downing (WP, CG, 2R, 2ER, 9H, 7K, 1BB) and Fair. Fair S, RBI; McMorrow S; Meuhlen D, RBI;

STEUBENVILLE (0-1): Fabbro (LP, CG, 4R, 3ER, 3H, 12K, 2BB) and Simmons. Fabbro S; Borsch S; Cooper 2S; Blackburn RBI; Simmons S; Gulan 3S; Dobreff S.