The No. 7 Valley Blue Sox couldn’t have asked for a better start to their NEBCL first round postseason series against No. 2 Newport on the road Thursday night.

Behind Anthony Scarabino’s two-run double and an RBI single from Granby’s Michael Toth, Valley struck early to hang five runs in the top of the first inning.

Newport cut the lead to three with runs in the bottom of the first and third innings, but the Blue Sox responded by scattering one run apiece in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to boost their advantage back up to 8-2.

The Gulls’ offense woke up in a big way in the home half of the seventh, breaking out for eight runs in the frame – highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of Andrew Duncan (3-for-5, two runs, four RBIs on the day) – to jump all the way in front, 10-8.

That would wind up being the final score on Thursday, as Newport’s Drew Delucia shut Valley down in his 4 2/3 innings pitched at Cardines Field in Newport, R.I.

The Blue Sox may have dropped Game 1, but they’ll have another chance to grab a win on Friday in the best-0f-3 series with the Gulls. Game 2 is set for 6:30 p.m. at MacKenzie Stadium in Holyoke.

Game 3 (if necessary) is slated for Saturday back in Newport.

Scarabino (three hits, three RBIs, two runs), Toth (two hits, one RBI, one run), Lucas Manning (two hits, two RBIs, one run) and Andre Vidal (two hits, two runs, one walk) all recorded multi-hit games and provided pop to the Valley offense. Logan Hugo and Michael O’Conor each added a base knock and a walk in the loss.

Greg Shaw earned the start on the mound for the Blue Sox, and he delivered a strong performance in his five innings of work. Shaw allowed two runs and six hits while striking out three before being relieved in the sixth. Three Blue Sox errors came back to bite them, especially in Newport’s eight-run seventh.