NEWS

NEWPORT, R.I. – The Newport Gulls have named Eric Degre as the team’s 2016 Defensive and First Base Coach.

“The Gulls are excited to add Coach Degre to our 2016 staff,” said General Manager Chuck Paiva. “Coach Degre is a passionate baseball coach who is driven to help others succeed both on and off the field.”

An assistant principal and athletic director at Lake Region Union High School in Vermont, Degre is in his seventh season as head coach of the school’s varsity baseball team. He coached against the Gulls last summer as a defensive and first base coach for the North Adams SteepleCats, his first year in the NECBL.

“Being able to coach in the league last year in North Adams was great, but being able to come down to Newport this summer is a dream come true,” Degre said. “I feel lucky that I’m going to be able to coach the Gulls this season as the newest member of an experienced, highly regarded coaching staff.”

Degre joins the veteran staff led by Manager Al Leyva and Pitching /Associate Head Coach Kevin Long, who have each been with the organization since 2011. Leyva, who additionally serves as hitting and third base coach, is taking over as manager for Mike Coombs, who retired during the offseason after 11 remarkable years as the Gulls skipper, winning championships in 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2014.

Degre, a resident of Orleans, Vermont, was previously the head coach at North County Union High School – coincidentally located in Newport, Vermont – for 16 years. A retired fire chief, Degre is also a motivational speaker, and has spent numerous summers working baseball camps across the country, including at Vanderbilt, Clemson and Tennessee.

The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation’s top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the youth of Newport County via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are six-time champions of the NECBL – the winningest franchise in league history – and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.

For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com.