The New England Collegiate Baseball League has announced the Official Schedule for the 2023 Season.
For the Newport Gulls, they will be traveling to Dodd Stadium, home of the Mystic Schooners, to kick off the year on Tuesday, June 6. This will be the only game of the night as the rest of the league will begin play the following evening, including Newport’s Home Opener against the Bristol Blues. University Orthopedics returns as the Opening Night Sponsor for an evening that is always extremely special for the City of Newport and the State of Rhode Island.
The league now has 13 teams as the Winnipesaukee Muskrats will not operate this upcoming summer, but remain hopeful to participate in 2024, according to a press release from the Gulls. Although the league will feature one less team than last year, a Three- Division alignment remains.
Once again, all teams will play a 44-game slate in which they will play each of their divisional opponents seven times. Coastal Teams will play each non-division opponent twice, once at home and once on the road, while teams in the North Division and West Division will play non-divisional opponents three times apiece.
Newport will compete in the Coastal Division alongside the Ocean State Waves, Mystic Schooners, North Shore Navigators, and 2022 NECBL Champion Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. This division proved to be the strongest last summer, with three teams making the playoffs.
This summer features two scheduled doubleheaders. North Adams travels to Newport on Wednesday, June 14 and Upper Valley plays two against the Gulls on Wednesday, July 19. Tickets to Game 1 will allow access to Game 2 of each doubleheader.
All of Newport’s league games will be played on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, however, the Gulls are set to play on America’s Birthday again this year in a special exhibition match. On Tuesday, July 4, the Bethesda Big Train (Bethesda, MD) of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League will take on the Gulls.
Newport looks to build on 2022’s successful season, a year that saw the Gulls take home the third-most wins in the league- 30.
Visit the full schedule at newportgulls.com and stay tuned for another release discussing Newport’s Promotional & Events Calendar.