OCEAN STATES GETS BETTER HALF OF NEWPORT, EVENS PELL BRIDGE SERIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Newport Gulls

operations@newportgulls.com

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. - The Gulls entered Saturday's game looking to capitalize on a massive win vs. Bristol the day prior. The big question mark for Newport, as has been the case for most Saturday games, is who would start for the Gulls on the mound and how would they fare? C.J. Bott (UCLA) got the nod but did not get the outing he would have liked.

After 10 runs of offense vs. the Bristol Blues on Friday, July 11th, the Gulls went down in order to start Saturday night's game, something the Gulls did not do the day prior. Bott retired his first hitter in one pitch before the Waves jumped on the rising sophomore. A walk and a hit batter led the way to three-straight hits for Ocean State, scoring three runs. A Zach Plasschaert ground-out scored the fourth run in the opening frame for the Waves as they jumped on Bott and the Gulls heading into the second.

Newport drew a pair of walks off Waves starter Corey Kling thanks to great patience from Ryan Novak (MiamiOH) and Kyle Branch (Oklahoma). After a Will Fosberg (Northeastern) fielder's choice that put Novak on third, the Gulls came up empty-handed going into the home half. Bott bounced back after a leadoff walk and single, getting a pop out and forcing a sharp ground ball to third baseman Josh Castellani (Clemson), who got the force out at third before firing a missile to first to retire Kolton Reynolds and get out of the inning.

The Gulls attacked Kling early in the third and found success to the tune of four hits, the first coming off the bat of Castellani on the first pitch of the inning for a single. Matt Bolton (Binghamton) followed Castellani with a single of his own before Michael Gupton (Memphis) pieced a double into right-center field, scoring Castellani, and putting himself and Bolton in scoring position. Dre Lewis (Manhattan) singled on the first pitch he saw, scoring Bolton, but Gupton was gunned down at the plate after a nice throw from center fielder Gavin Gregor. The run would stop there for Newport, but they cut the deficit in half, 4-2.

For the first time all night, Newport had the momentum on their side, but it did not last long. Gregor hit a single to start the bottom of the third, into left, that Novak had trouble dealing with, allowing Gregor to get to second. Gregor would advance 90 feet closer after Bott's pickoff throw went into center field. A Matt Brinker single was one of four hits on the night for the designated hitter, plating Gregor. The next batter would walk, and Plasschaert singled, scoring Brinker for his 2nd RBI of the day. The Waves had runners at the corners, Coen Niclai on third, Plasschaert on first, and Newport traded a run for an out as a double steal saw Plasschaert get cut down across the diamond, but Niclai scored. Bott's day was done after allowing two singles with the bases cleared, and Ethan Lund (Oklahoma State) replaced the starter and got an immediate punchout to get out of the inning. The Waves went into the fourth up 7-2, and Newport needed a response.

The once-hot Newport bats faltered vs. Max Marchetti, who came in relief for Kling. Marchetti needed eight pitches to sit down Newport's lineup and go to the bottom of the fourth. Lund's command was shaky, walking four of his first five batters, with the lone at-bat being a Gavin Gregor single. The Waves took a commanding 9-2 advantage with the bases loaded and no one out. Lund then locked in, striking out the next three batters he faced to limit the damage.

Dylan McCarthy replaced an extremely effective Marchetti in the fifth and, besides a one-out single from Bolton, made quick work of the Gulls. Lund went back to work after the short road half and let up a leadoff single, before zoning in and punching out the next two Waves hitters. The fifth was far from over as a Matt Brinker double gave the Waves their tenth run of the game. Lund got Coen Niclai to ground out to end the inning and his outing, with the Waves up 10-2.

The 6th went very similarly to the fifth, as Bryce McKnight relieved McCarthy. Instead of the one-out knock being a single, this time a double off the bat of Petey Craska (North Alabama) that got lost in the fog, and Kolton Reynolds was unable to reel it in. Similar to the fifth, the next two Gulls batters went down, keeping Newport at two runs. Logan Olson (Penn State) got his first appearance on the hill since exiting game two of a doubleheader on June 30th vs. Upper Valley and excelled in the 6th. He saw four batters, walking one and striking out Jack LaRose en route to Ocean State's first scoreless inning since the second.

The seventh inning kicked off with an Adrian Areizaga (MiamiFL) single, and he would move to second on a swinging bunt back to the pitcher from Castellani. However, a shallow fly out by Bolton and a broken bat dribbler by Gupton to McKnight continued to keep Newport off the board in the 7th. 

Olson went back out and hoped to continue his solid appearance, and looked to do so after sandwiching a Justin Hackett hit by pitch with two outs. That's when Matt Brinker got his fourth hit of the ballgame, a rocket into left center field. The ball got all the way out to the deepest part of the ballpark, scoring Hackett. It seemed as if the ball was stuck under the fence, which gave Gupton some issues in center. Left fielder Novak threw his hands up signaling a stuck baseball, but the umpires made no call, and after Gupton finally yanked the ball out of the fence, Brinker turned his attention towards home. A great relay from Gupton, to Branch, to the plate saw a close play at the dish. Will Fosberg's tag was just a split second late as Brinker scored standing for an inside-the-park home run to give the Waves a 12-2 lead. 

The call pulled manager Mike Coombs off the bench and sparked a heated debate. Coombs was highly frustrated with the call at the plate, especially after Brinker scored standing at a full head of steam, making it difficult for fellow Northeastern Husky, Will Fosberg, to get in front of the plate to put down a tag that did not include a head-on collision. It was a losing battle for Coombs, who remained in the game and would witness Olson induce a Niclai ground out to end the inning.

Lewis and Novak went down to start the eighth, before Craska walked, but were left at first following a Branch strikeout. A loss seemed imminent for Newport going into the bottom of the eighth, but the way it went down stirred the pot between the two rivals. Aidan O'Connell (Vanderbilt) was the fourth Newport pitcher to take the hill and looked for three outs. Two singles in the first three batters faced saw O'Connell get off to a shaky start. A Brandon DeGoti three-run bomb followed that to add insult to injury and give Ocean State a very commanding 15-2 lead going into the ninth.

As the ninth came around, Ocean State's bullpen made its way from the right field line to the dugout. Plenty of chirps and call outs were coming from the Waves dugout, directed at the Gulls hitters and dugout.. A Fosberg walk and an Areizaga double oddly enhanced the action from the first base dugout, especially after Castellani went down swinging. Bolton ripped a 2-run double down the right field line and flipped his bat towards the Waves' dugout in the process. The Waves jeered as Bolton stood at second, and Bolton was given a warning by the home plate umpire. Once that warning was applied, third base coach Ted Regan boiled and grew extremely frustrated after Newport endured multiple at-bats with opposing players yelling and screaming while swinging at the plate. Tensions continued to rise as Coombs joined Regan in the effort to get the home side to cool down, but all efforts were squashed after play resumed. Newport would load the bases, but back-to-back punchouts ended the game with Newport dropping to Ocean State 15-4.

The loss puts the Pell Bridge Series at two wins apiece with game five coming back to Cardines Field on Wednesday, July 16th. Newport gets the day off on Sunday before welcoming in the Mystic Schooners on Monday, July 14th. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. and streaming on ESPN+.

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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 community via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are eight-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.

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