Gulls vs Nighthawks
Newport, RI – The Newport Gulls outscored the Upper Valley Nighthawks, 23-2 and swept both games of the doubleheader on Wednesday night at Cardines Field.
Game 1
The Gulls played the role of being the away team and they were the first to bat at Cardines Field for Game 1 of the doubleheader. Newport did not waste any time as they got on the board first. Niko Brini (University of Connecticut) led off the first with a single. The next batter, Michael Anderson (University of Rhode Island) launched his third home run of the season. The Gulls received another jolt, this time from Billy Butler (University of Southern Mississippi) who ripped a two-run double to score both Luke Beckstein (Northeastern University) and Tyler Hare (Georgia Tech) to make it 4-0 Gulls after one inning of play.
In the third, Newport was back to the run column. Slate Alford (University of Georgia) hit his second home run in as many games at Cardines Field to give the Gulls a 5-0 lead.
The Gulls put up another crooked number in the fifth inning. Three Gulls players recorded RBIs in the inning. Matthew Schark (University of Southern Illinois), Butler and Ryan Proto (University of Massachusetts Lowell) all drove in runs in the inning to make it 8-0, Newport.
In the bottom of the inning, the Nighthawks got one of those runs back on a Kevin Bruggeman RBI double that scored Adarius Myers who singled earlier in the inning.
The Gulls would tack on a couple more runs in the top of the seventh inning when Proto registered his third hit of the game and drove in two more runs to make it 10-1, Newport.
That would be all for the scoring and the Gulls would coast to the victory. After game 1, Newport improved their record to 25-8-1 on the season. Upper Valley fell to 16-15.
Adam Maher (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) started the game and pitched four innings, striking out four and allowing no runs. Joe Allen (Clemson University) finished the final three innings and registered his first save of the season.
Game 2
Both teams were hot out of the gate as they each scored in the first inning. It was the Upper Valley Nighthawks who scored first. Tyler Long doubled and later came around to score on a Ryan Cisarini fielder’s choice.
In the bottom of the first, the Gulls repeated what they did in game 1 by scoring four runs to lead off the game. Kolby Branch (University of Georgia) started things off with a double. Beckstein followed with a single and Hare walked to load the bases with no one out. A couple batters later, Schark doubled to score both Branch and Beckstein. After Hare scored on a wild pitch, Butler singled to score Schark to make it 4-1, Gulls after one inning of play.
The Gulls scored four more runs in the third inning behind a three-run blast off the bat of Hare, his sixth home run of the season. Branch also singled in a run to make it 8-1, Newport after three innings.
Newport continued to keep their foot on the gas pedal as they scored five more runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by a Kolton Freeman (Dartmouth College) two-run single to make it 13-1.
Newport secured the victory 13-1 as they outscored the Nighthawks 23-2 combined in the two games.
Jake Hunter (East Carolina University) started the game and picked up his fourth win of the season after throwing four strong innings and striking out five. Kade Shatwell (Oklahoma State University) pitched the next two innings and did not allow a run. Ryan Andrade (University of Pittsburgh) shut the door in the ninth.
Newport will be on the road on Thursday July 20th when they take on the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks at the Shark Tank. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 and will be broadcasted live on the NECBL broadcast network.
