Newport, R.I. – The Newport Gulls fell short, 6-1, against the Ocean State Waves on Saturday night at Old Mountain Field.
The first three batters of the first inning for the Waves reached base and scored. David Mershon led things off with a double and came around to score on a Garrett Howe RBI double. Howe later scored on a Parker Rowland fielder’s choice. The next batter, Khyree Miller walked and scored on a double play by Matthew Graveline to make it 3-0 Waves.
Ocean State kept their foot on the gas pedal as they scored two more runs in the second inning. Greg Pettay singled and scored on a Howe RBI single. Then Mershon reached and scored again, this time on a Miller fielder’s choice. At the end of three innings, it was 5-0, Waves.
In the fifth, Newport pushed a run across the plate on a Luke Beckstein (Northeastern University) RBI single that scored Kolby Branch (University of Georgia) who reached on an error. The Gulls inched a little closer with that single by Beckstein to bring the Gulls within four runs of the Waves.
The Waves added some insurance in the eighth inning with a solo home run from Christian Ficca, his big fly of the season to extend the Ocean State lead to 6-1.
The Gulls could not answer in the top of the ninth and had their four-game winning streak snapped as they came up short, 6-1 against the Waves.
Joe Allen (Clemson University) started the game for the Gulls and went 1.1 innings, allowing five runs. Ryan Andrade (University of Pittsburgh) was the second pitcher used and he went 2.2 strong innings, giving up one hit and striking out four. Kade Shatwell (Oklahoma State University) pitched the next two innings and did not allow a run. Nick Boyle (Xavier University) finished off the final two innings and struck out two batters.
Newport will be on the road on Tuesday July 25th when they take on the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks at The Shark Tank for doubleheader. The first pitch in game 1 is scheduled for 4:30 and game 2 will start shortly after. All games are broadcasted live on the NECBL Broadcast Network.
