Bats Go Silent vs. SteepleCats
Newport struggles with runners in scoring position in close contest
The Newport Gulls hosted the North Adams Steeplecats for the first game after the All Star Game at Cardines for some Monday night baseball action. Braden Booth (Mississippi State) got the ball to start and Kellen Moore was on the mound for North Adams.
Booth got off to a great start retiring the Steeplecats in order to start off the game but North Adams had his number in the second inning with a 2 rbi double from Pabo Aquino to give the Cats the early lead and they never looked back.
Kellen Moore dealt for North Adams and shut down the offense for Newport for the first half of the game and kept the Gulls scoreless through 5 innings.
The Gulls pitching staff out of the bullpen did their job holding the Steeplecats offense pretty quiet through the middle innings thanks to the brilliant relief work from Mickey McClaskey (Gonzaga) who threw 3 ⅔ innings with five strikeouts under his belt.
Newport broke the shutout in the 6th inning with a solo home run from Tristan Salinas (Rutgers) that went over the right field wall at 314 feet to try and get the bats going for the Gulls as it was all North Adams at that point with Moore dealing for the Steeplecats.
Going into the 7th inning, Kyler Zagar (Oklahoma State) relieved McClaskey and threw two brilliant innings retiring all of the North Adams hitters to try and give some life to the Gulls offense in the late innings.
Newport had its chances as they loaded the bases in both the 8th and 9th innings but just came away with one run off of a pitch clock violation walk in the eight. The Steeplecat bullpen did their job and got out of huge jams to bring home the 4-2 upset win over the Gulls at Cardines.
The Gulls winning streak came to an end but it is always time for a new one as they travel to Danbury for one last time this regular season to take on the Westerners on Tuesday night before their final regular season game back home in Newport against the Martha's Vineyard Sharks on Wednesday Night.
Just a few more games before postseason ball in Newport this weekend and the Newport Gulls look to get back to their winning ways and stay hot heading into the postseason.
