By Stephen Hough – Team Publicist
The Gulls (16-13) fell to the Vermont Mountaineers (17-13) in their first meeting on the season by a score of 13-2 on Saturday night. Connery Peters wore the loss for Newport, giving up seven runs off five hits and two walks in just two innings pitched while Vermont’s Sean Kealey earned the win, holding the Gulls to only one run off of three hits while striking out five in six innings of work.
As a staff, Newport’s pitchers gave up 13 hits and walked five while committing three errors in the field. Vermont took advantage of Newport’s miscues, scoring on all their defensive errors and having every batter reach base safely throughout the night. The Mountaineers had an early seven-run lead after the first two innings but didn’t slow up as they scored one in the sixth and five more in the seventh as they batted around the lineup.
The Gulls only scored two runs on the day, the first coming in the fifth inning off an RBI single from Hudson Haskin, and the final run coming in the ninth on a sacrifice fly from Jake Gustin.
Although it wasn’t the day Newport imagined it would be in Vermont’s capital, Mike Sansone and Mike Townsend did combine for solid efforts on the mound. Sansone threw four innings of relief, giving up just four hits and one unearned run while Townsend pitched one inning, walking just one while striking out two.
Offensively, Brett Vosik, Hayden Jones, and Austin James were the only Gulls to reach base multiple times. Out of the three, Vosik andJones both had singles to go along with a walk and hit by pitch, respectively, while James had a pair of walks on the day. The Gulls only had four hits on the night.
Newport is back on the road on Sunday, July 14th to take on the Mystic Schooners for the sixth and final time this regular season. First pitch is set for 6:05 pm.