Year three of Atlantic League baseball kicked off on Staten Island on Friday night and though the hometown FerryHawks are expected to be much improved this season, they fell, nonetheless, in game one in St. George.

The Staten Islanders dropped to 4-4 on the season and took their lumps at SIUH Community Park in front of a listed crowd of 2,372 fans, dropping a 7-4 decision to visiting Southern Maryland, which improved to 3-5 on the year.