The Gulls fell to 19 – 19 Wednesday night in a 13-inning ballgame with the Vermont Mountaineers (17 – 22) and are once again tied with the Mystic Schooners (20 – 20) for the third and final playoff spot in the Southern Division with six games to go in the season.
Virginia Tech’s Nic Enright pitched a strong game going seven scoreless innings allowing five hits and striking out nine. He was relieved by Georgetown’s Jerry Burke who despite being saddled with the loss had a very strong outing as well, going five-plus innings without not allowing a baserunner until the thirteenth inning. He ended the night with seven strikeouts along with the three runs that were charged to him in the thirteenth. The final Gulls pitcher to enter the game was Austen Michel of Dartmouth who was charged with one earned run in his single inning of work.
Newport’s offense was largely quieted against Vermont, failing to capitalize with runners in scoring position despite outhitting the Mountaineers 10–9. Logan Harvey of Wake Forest, Kentucky’s Dalton Reed, Vanderbilt Commodore Jayson Gonzalez and Fairfield Stag Jack Gethings each had two hits apiece, tied for the team’s high in the game.
The Gulls nearly got on the board first when NJIT’s Matt Cocciadiferro appeared to be hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, but after some debate between umpires it was decided he did not do enough to get out of the way of the ball and he was called back to the plate. Vermont was able to recover and wriggle out of the inning unscathed. While the Gulls would threaten again with runners on second and third following a Gonzalez single which moved Reed to third and a defensive indifference in which Gonzalez took second in the twelfth, the Gulls were not able to plate the winning run.
In the top of the thirteenth Vermont scored four times, capped by a Chase Achuff triple which plated two. This was especially notable because Achuff started the game at third base but came in to pitch two innings of scoreless baseball in relief, and would pitch a third in the bottom half to shut the door on the Gulls 4–0 .
The next opponent for the Gulls will be the Winnipesaukee Muskrats (12 – 26) Thursday as the team looks to win in order to take a one game lead or keep pace with the Mystic Schooners in the race for the last playoff spot in the Southern Division.