A pitchers’ duel resulted in an explosion on offense as the Staten Island South Shore Little League suffered a 9-1 loss to Nevada Paseo Verde in the opening game of the Little League World Series.

With this loss, the New York team is now one loss away from having its run in the tournament come to a quick end. The team will face Midwest Regional champions Sioux Falls, SD on Saturday afternoon.

There are several moments that Staten Island remembers and wishes were back, one of them being a play in the fifth inning that stopped New York’s momentum.

Trailing 4-1 with one out and two runners on base, Staten Island manager Bob Laterza decided to send Chace Curro home from second base after Dean Scarangello hit a single into left field. The throw to the plate came in time to take Curro out of the game, preventing a crucial run.

Nevada starter Wyatt Erickson managed to get Zach Weiss to pop up in the next at-bat to end the inning and Staten Island’s scoring chance.

Nevada broke a scoreless tie in the third when Russell McGee scored a run with two outs on a smash up the middle and Erickson then hit a two-run double.

Staten Island’s only run of the game came in the fourth inning when Staten Island’s starting pitcher Stephen Grippo hit a hard ground ball to right for a single and scored Vincent Ruggiero, cutting the deficit to three.

But Nevada extended its lead with a run in the fourth inning on a wild pitch and then scored three runs in the fifth inning.

Staten Island allowed nine runs on eleven hits, and their pitchers combined for six strikeouts.

Grippo pitched three innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out six batters. Jake Romero replaced him in the third inning and allowed four runs on three hits with three strikeouts.

Scarangello and Alex Torres also threw one inning each.

Erickson threw a complete game for Nevada, his second in a row after throwing a no-hitter in the regional final.

Both starters had to get out of sticky situations where there were runners on base, including a situation for Grippo in the first inning when he had runners on the corners and two outs.

Before the first pitch of Thursday’s game, New York Mayor Eric Adams posted on social media wishing Staten Island luck and including a video of a phone call with the team.

During a brief conference call with Laterza and the players, Adams announced his team’s 17-2 record before the Little League World Series opener.

“Go out and get one for the home team,” Adams said in the video.