Gulls Fall in 11 Inning Thriller 13-12 to Schooners

Not many games can top what occurred tonight, June 11th in Mystic, Connecticut. A back-and-forth, high-scoring, nail-biting contest had all you can ask for, except … a Gulls win.

On the mound to begin things it was Newport’s Burkley Bounds (Kentucky) and Mystic’s Harrison Engle. Bounds’ first outing of the year showed promise early. The right-hander retired the side one-two-three to open things up, but in the second inning the dangerous Schooners offense opened up the scoring. Mystic picked up four runs off three hits and three walks as command issues on the mound allowed the Schooners to grab a commanding early lead.

Newport scored a combined 25 runs across its previous two contests but wouldn’t get on the board until the 4th. Cole Johnson (Austin Peay) lined a single right up the middle to score one. The scoring continued in the 5th. Maddox Haley (Gonzaga) crushed a double to make it a two-run game and moments later Tristan Salinas (Rutgers) cut the deficit to one.

With the momentum beginning to shift in favor of the Gulls, the Schooners’ bats woke back up. One run in the 5th and one in the 6th pushed the lead back to three and the offensive push from Newport appeared to be coming to a close.

Chasing three with two frames to play, Newport began to inch closer. After working four walks to score once and a sacrifice fly from Braxton Tramel (East Carolina) the Gulls got within one heading to the ninth. After Cole Johnson worked a walk and Gus Gandy (Samford) took a hit by pitch, Mason Ligenza (Pittsburgh) shot a ground ball up the middle. The Schooners’ middle infield turned to second for the second out of the inning but an errant throw to first allowed the tying run to score.

John Mass (Boston College) cruised through the ninth and extra innings would be the only way to decide a winner. A 6-6 game heading to the tenth was quite the game already; and, the fun was just beginning. Newport came up empty-handed in the top of the 10th, setting up Mystic for a prime opportunity to walk it off. Entering his third inning of work, Mass had to deal with bases loaded and no outs. With a 3-2 count against Mystic’s Jamie Zee, Mass grabbed a strikeout looking. That one strikeout gave Mass all the energy he needed as the next two batters both went down on strikeouts swinging. Mass’ three-punchout escape with the bases loaded was the kind of gutsy performance that defines summer ball development.

The scoring resumed in the 11th and at quite the alarming rate. The Gulls collected four extra-base hits and tallied six runs to seemingly pull away. Leading 12-6 and in need of just three outs, the ballgame seemed all but over. Unfortunately for Newport, the Schooners immediately loaded the bases, and with no one out delivered a grand slam that cut the lead to two and swing all the momentum back to Mystic. Three batters later the bases were loaded again. Jamie Zee took advantage of his second chance and tied it up with a single. With the winning run on third, Joel Collado and the Schooners ran a safety squeeze to perfection, scoring the winning run, completing the comeback, and capping off an early contender for NECBL game of the year.

The loss snaps Newport's three-game winning streak, but there’s plenty to build on. The offense continued to swing well with 12 runs and multiple extra-base hits on the night.

The loss snaps Newport’s three game winning streak, but the quick turnaround may be a blessing after tonight’s game. The Gulls are back at Cardines for Friday night baseball against the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. First pitch is set for 6:35.