By Nick Bello– Media Operations Assistant
Newport (23-15) hit the road for the first game of their doubleheader to take on the New Bedford Bay Sox (12-27) as the Gulls came away with a 3-1 victory in what would be a quiet first game.
Newport was led by Sam Jacobsak on the mound who made his first start on the season. The right-hander from Northeastern threw six innings, giving up just one run while striking out four. After the third inning, the Bay Sox only had two base runners the rest of the day.
Offensively, all three of the Gulls runs came in the fourth inning after the first three batters reached base safely. With the bases loaded,Justyn-Henry Malloy scored off a Hayden Jones sacrifice fly, while Brett Vosik scored off a balk. Scott Holzwasser hit in Ryan Tooherswith an RBI single to give the Gulls the 3-1 lead and eventual victory.
The Gulls would head back to Cardines for their second game of the day to take on the Danbury Westerners (18-19). Newport was able to take down the Westerners in the nightcap by a score of 7-1. Makenzie Stills picked up the win for the Gulls while Ryan Bryggman picked up the loss for the Westerners.
The Gulls struck first thanks to a Brett Vosik RBI single that scored Holzwasser from second to make it 1-0 after one. In the bottom of the third, Chris Hamilton increased the Gulls lead to 4-0 with one swing of the bat as he launched a three-run home run to right. The Gulls would then go on to add three more runs in the seventh thanks to a two-RBI double from Malloy and an RBI single from Vosik.
Stills was stellar on the mound for the Gulls in six innings of work, giving up only one run in the sixth inning, while striking out five batters. The Gulls also received a solid performance out of the bullpen from Jordan Marks who pitched the final three innings and struck out the last two batters he faced, as the Gulls picked up a 7-1 victory.
With the win, Newport is now 3.5 games ahead of the Mystic Schooners for second place and one game behind the first-place Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. The Gulls will now head to Sanford on Saturday for a matchup with the Mainers on the eve of the 2019 All-Star Game.