Sanford, ME. – The Newport Gulls improved to an NECBL-best 16-3 overall record with a 6-2 victory over the Sanford Mainers on Thursday night at Goodall Park.
Both teams were scoreless through the first three innings but in the fourth, the Gulls were the first to strike. After a one-out single by Sam Kulasingam (United States Air Force Academy), Kolby Branch (University of Georgia) ripped an RBI triple to score Kulasingam. The next batter, Trent Farquhar (Michigan State University) drove home Branch from third on a sacrifice fly. After four innings, Newport led 2-0.
A couple innings later, the Gulls were back on the attack. Niko Brini (University of Connecticut) led off the inning with a single and Kulasingam followed Brini with a single of his own. Two batters later, Farquhar singled to right field to score Brini and extend the Gulls lead to 3-0. Tyler Hare (University of Georgia Tech) then drove home Kulasingam with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 Newport after six innings.
Newport kept their foot on the gas pedal. In the eighth, the Gulls scored another run, this time on a Michael Anderson (University of Rhode Island) RBI single which scored Farquhar after he walked to lead off the inning to make it 5-0 Gulls. Two batters later, Noah Smith (University of Louisville) singled to bring home Kolton Freeman (Dartmouth College) who came in to pinch-run after Matthew Schark (University of Southern Illinois) walked.
The Mainers would not go away quietly, however. In the bottom of the inning, Devan Bade walked and later scored on an RBI double off the bat of Jeremiah Jenkins to make the score 6-1. The next batter, Logan Poteet, singled to score Jenkins and to draw the Mainers a little closer, 6-2.
That would be all Sanford would get as Newport held on for the win to gain their NECBL-leading 16th win of the season.
With the win, the Gulls have now won seven games in a row. The loss for the Mainers snaps their two-game winning streak and drops their overall record to 8-10 on the season.
Jake Hunter (East Carolina University) started the game and picked up his second win of the season after pitching five scoreless innings and striking out seven batters. Hunter has now gone 13.2 innings this year without allowing an earned run. Nelson Berkwich (University of North Carolina) followed Hunter and went 2.1 innings, striking out five batters and allowing only one hit. David Horn (University of Vanderbilt) pitched the final 1.2 innings and picked up two strikeouts.
Newport will return home on Friday June 30th to take on the Ocean State Waves at historic Cardines Field in the second matchup of the Pell Bridge Series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 and will be broadcasted live on the NECBL Broadcast Network.
