By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — A pair of “Southern Six” foes each with new head coaches for the first in quite some time faced off on the prep baseball diamond Tuesday.

And it was home-standing Gulfport that slipped past Pearl River Central 2-1 here at Herbert Wilson Field in Gulfport.

The game was the nightcap of a season-opening doubleheader at “The Herb” hosted by the Admirals, as Picayune thumped Biloxi 11-1 in five innings in the opener.

.The second game was a showdown between Gulfport and new head coach Justin Edwards and PRC with new mentor Buddy Turnage. It marked the debut of a new Blue Devil head coach to open a season for the first time in 18 years, and was the first time the Admirals opened a new campaign with a new skipper in charge in 15 years.

The story of this season-opener for both teams was the Gulfport pitching staff and especially senior starting pitcher Tolar Raybourn. The 6-foot-2 righty worked three shutout innings on the hill for the Admirals and set the tone for the evening, giving up just one hit while striking out six and walking four in the first start of his career.

“I thought he did an excellent job,” Edwards said. “He struggled to find the zone a little early and surrendered some walks but really beared down and didn’t allow any damage.”

With the game still scoreless early in the bottom of the second, the home team produced both of its runs as Brant Rounsaville led the inning off with a single. He later came around to score on a passed ball with the bases loaded and Damion Burch at bat, then Burch delivered an RBI-single to make it 2-0 and give Gulfport a lead it would never relinquish.

The Blue Devils finally broke through for their only run of the game in the fifth off of GHS freshman reliever Mason Little, when John Moreale singled and later crossed the plate when the Admirals misplayed a ball off the bat of Kendall Morrison for an error.

Little went two innings in relief of Raybourn, while Thomas Stennis came on in the sixth to get the save by working a perfect frame and striking out two.

PRC starter Ayden Radosta probably deserved a better fate, as he worked the five frame distance and took the tough-luck loss. The game was stopped with no outs in the bottom of the sixth when a thunder storm hit.

The Admirals managed only two hits, with Little adding a single to Rounsaville’s rbi-hit that scored Bash Plummer.

PRC’s Sam Tuminello collected a double, to top the three hit Blue Devil total.