GULLS SWEEP DANBURY, TAKE SOUTHERN DIVISION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Newport Gulls

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NEWPORT R.I. - The Newport Gulls swept the Danbury Westerners in a doubleheader at Cardines Field to clinch the NECBL Southern Division title. The first contest, technically a road game for Newport, saw an incredible five run comeback for Newport which resulted in an eight inning 7-5 win. The second game saw a power surge from Michael Gupton (Memphis), who smashed three dingers en route to a convincing 9-3 win. The Gulls were the road team for game one, a makeup game from July third which was supposed to be played at Danbury. Cole Gibson worked quickly to start the inning, but ran into trouble after inducing two groundouts. Colby Wallace (East Carolina) battled to a full count walk and Adam Agresti (St. John’s) stayed scalding hot, ripping a base hit into left and moving Agresti to third.

Randy Seymour (Michigan St) came to the batter’s box with an aggressive approach, lining out to shortstop Gavin Donohue on the first pitch, stranding two for the Gulls. Blake Julius (Oklahoma St) got the ball for Newport and ran into a bit of trouble, walking Diego Urreta - Urreta’s 11th walk drawn in four games, and then giving up a softly hit single down the right field line to Jack Lutte. Julius got another out, but fell victim to a bloop single off the end of Aidan Paradime’s bat, the ball dropped in between Kyle Branch (Oklahoma) and Gupton to put Danbury up 1-0. Julius kept the damage at a run, getting Brice Estep to fly out to Gupton. The Gulls got some traffic going on the basepaths in the top of the second, Dre Lewis
(Manhattan) walked and Matt Ossenfort (Michigan) ripped a single. Lewis advanced to third after the ball was dropped on an infield pop up which was ruled an infield fly. Matthew Bolton (Binghamton) once again hit the ball hard, but Garrett Larsen was positioned well in right field
to make the inning-ending catch, stranding runners on the corners for Newport for the second
straight inning.

Danbury kept the beat going in the bottom half of the second, Teddy Cashman ripped a single on the inning’s first pitch and Donohue slammed a double into the left center field gap off of a hanging breaking ball. Cashman scored and Donohue moved to third on a slow groundout from Aidan Stern. Julius got his second out when Larsen couldn’t check his swing on a breaking ball and got out of the inning by getting Urreta to fly out.

After a 1-2-3 top of the third, the Westerners touched up Julius yet again, he walked Lutte and gave up a hard single to Peter Link. A mound visit from pitching coach Kevin Smith didn’t help matters, Julius delivered a four pitch walk to load the bases with nobody out. Julius responded by striking out Estep, Newport then nearly escaped the inning by turning a double play, but the throw to first was a hair late, Wallace made a great play to prevent more damage, but the Westerners exited the third inning with a 3-0 lead.

Newport once again threatened in the top of the fourth, Seymour led off by being hit by a pitch, he quickly stole second and then advanced to third on a Branch flyout. Unfortunately for the sparse Monday afternoon crowd, he didn’t advance any further. Lewis struck out looking on a strike call that drew the ire of the Cardines crowd and bench. Ossenfort struck out swinging one batter later to end the threat and keep the Gulls off the scoreboard.

Jake Gregor (Louisville) relieved Julius and immediately got some help from Lewis, who made a great play to get an out on a leadoff bunt attempt from Stern. The next two men reached without swinging the bat, Larsen was hit and Urreta drew a four pitch walk. After a conference with coach Smith, he settled in, inducing a flyout from Lutte before Wallace once again stole the show, making an incredible diving play at third base to end the frame. The gulls stranded men yet again in the top of the fifth, Ryan Novak (Miami) launched a double the other way and Gupton reached on a broken bat single, with Wallace at the plate, riding high after his incredible defensive play, he ripped a ground ball 92 miles per hour directly to third base, which led to a double play stifling the threat.

Paradine led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run that just scraped over the center field fence, extending the Westerners lead to four. Gregor bounced back quickly, getting out of the
inning without any further damage.

Agresti led off the top of the sixth and barely missed a long home run, pulling it foul at the last second. He struck out, but Newport once again put two men on, Seymour was beaned for the second time and Branch singled. This was enough to finally chase Gibson, who went 5.1 innings, striking out five. Griffin Polley came out in relief and got Lewis looking, but then walked the bases loaded after an eight pitch battle with Ossenfort ended in a walk. Novak came to the plate representing the tying run, he popped a ball into center and, despite some miscommunication by fielders, the ball was caught, and the Gulls were unable to cash in. The Westerners tacked on yet another run in the bottom of the sixth Lutte - who celebrated his birthday on Monday, launched a ball over the right field fence to give Danbury a 5-0 lead. The inning wasn't without Gulls highlights though, Wallace made yet another diving play to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, Bolton extended his on base streak to 31 games with a walk and Wallace singled. Agresti doubled the two men home for his second hit of the day. Seymour
brought Agresti home one at bat later with a hard hit single. Branch grounded out into what should have been a game-ending double play, but Stern missed the throw to first, so the out at second was all Danbury got. Lewis kept things going with a soft single into center and brought up the go ahead run in Ossenfort. Lewis and Branch executed a double steal to bring the tying run into scoring position. With two strikes, Ossenfort singled just past Stern, bringing the two runners home and knotting things at five. Pinch runner Shane Williams (Salve Regina) was thrown out at second to end the inning, the game - improbably went to the bottom of the seventh inning deadlocked at five.

Logan Olson (Penn St) came in for and despite working to 3-1 counts for each batter, none of them reached. Olson fired in two strikeouts to send the two southern division rivals to extra innings.

Novak led off the eighth with a single through the 3-4 hole, putting men on the corners with no one out for Bolton. He gave it a ride, and while the ball died just before the wall and was caught, it was more than enough to score the go ahead run and move Novak to second. Gupton came up next and hit the ball on the screws to left center field, and was robbed of extra bases by a diving catch from Link. The inning fell to Wallace, who made web gem after web gem all day. This time, he did the job with his bat, ripping a double off the top of the left field wall and giving the Gulls a much needed insurance run.

Olsen came back out for the bottom of the eighth and made quick work of the Westerners, locking down the incredible comeback win for Newport. Jack Cropper (Northeastern) got the ball for Newport in game two and made quick work of the Westerners, notching a strikeout in the top of the first.

Bolton led off per usual for Newport and wasted no time extending his on base streak to 32 games, he ripped an opposite field double, and came home just a pitch later on a Gupton home
run over the centerfield fence, Gupton’s sixth longball of the season gave the Gulls a 2-0 lead before recording an out. Agresti kept the beat going by ripping a double into the left center field gap, Branch reached first on an error, and Petey Craska (North Alabama) opened things up even further with an RBI single.

Cropper struggled with command in the second, walking two batters after a quick first out. Aidan Cohall - who didn’t play in game one, then tied the game with one swing, launching a home run. Cropper limited the damage from there, and the Gulls escaped with the game still tied. The two squads didn’t do much with their next turns at bat, but Newport regained their lead in the bottom of the third.Agresti remained a hitting machine with a leadoff single, Branch doubled him home, then Craska collected his second RBI of the nightcap with a hard hit double off the right field wall. After an out, Novak remained an RBI machine, going the other way and sending the ball just over the outstretched glove of left fielder Lutte. Newport went into the top of the third with their three run lead restored.

Cropper moved through the fourth easily, ending things on a strike-em out throw-em out double play.

Newport didn’t get the memo that the NECBL home run derby was a week ago, Gupton left the yard for the second time to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning and Agresti ripped his first Gulls home run, a moonshot over the left field fence. Newport couldn’t add any more from there, but they entered the fifth inning with an 8-3 lead. John Downing (Seton Hall) took the ball for the Gulls in the fifth and kept Danbury quiet, he ran into some trouble in the sixth though, walking Estep and allowing a double from Donohue, however, his defense helped him out of the jam. Estep tried to score on the hit, but Branch fired the relay throw home just in time to gun him down.

After going down quickly in the fifth inning, Newport sent Gupton to the plate, and Gupton sent Newport into a frenzy, leaving Earth with his third home run of the game - the first Newport player to achieve that feat this season.

Zac Taylor (Endicott) took the ball for Newport to close out the game - his first appearance of the year. The lefty made a solid impression on the Newport faithful, sitting down the Westerners 1-2-3 to clinch the Southern Division championship, their fourth straight division crown.

While a home playoff game awaits on Friday, the Gulls still have two more regular season games to go: A road contest tomorrow at Martha’s Vineyard and their home finale against the
Mystic Schooners. Game times are 7:05 and 6:35 PM respectively.

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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.

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