Oak Bluffs, MA – The Newport Gulls scored five runs in the ninth inning to overcome a three-run deficit and picked up a key 9-8 divisional win against the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks on Thursday night at the Shark Tank.
Both teams went scoreless through the first two innings of play, but the bats woke up in the third inning. The Gulls took the early lead after Michael Anderson (University of Rhode Island) drove in Ryan Proto (University of Massachusetts Lowell), who reached on a leadoff single. A couple batters later, Slate Alford (University of Georgia) singled to score Kolton Freeman (Dartmouth College).
The Gulls carried a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third where the Sharks would answer with runs of their own. Martha’s Vineyard sent eight batters to the plate and scored four times. The first run came on a sacrifice fly by Dmitri Diamant. A few batters later, Nathan Hall tripled to score Ryan McCoy. A couple batters later, Scott Seeker singled to score Hall. Brandon Hylton added another RBI single to make it 4-2 Sharks after three innings.
The Gulls knotted things back up at four thanks to a two-run home run by Alford which scored Tyler Hare (Georgia Tech) who walked right before Alford hit his third home run of the season.
It didn’t take long for the Sharks to answer yet again. Martha’s Vineyard took the lead right back with Carsten Sabathia’s sixth home run of the season to make it 5-4 Sharks after five innings of play.
In the seventh, Sabathia would drive in another run, this time on an RBI single which scored McCoy who reached on a walk. Seeker followed with a sacrifice fly to push the Sharks lead to 7-4 over the Gulls.
Entering the ninth inning, the Gulls trailed by three runs but that quickly changed. The first five batters reached base as Proto started things off with a double and later came around to score on a wild pitch. A couple batters later, Anderson singled to drive home both Freeman and Beckstein to tie the game at seven. The highlight of the inning came off the bat of Hare who gave the Gulls their first lead since the third inning on his seventh home run of the season. Thanks to the five-run inning by Newport, the Gulls led 9-7 heading to the bottom of the inning.
The Sharks did not go down without a fight in the last of the ninth, as Seeker drove home a run with a single to make it 9-8. That would be all for the Sharks as the Gulls held on for the comeback victory, winning 9-8.
With the win, Newport has now won three games in a row and improve to 27-8-1 on the season. With the loss, the Martha’s Vineyard drops to 13-19-1.
Nolan Pender (Bellarmine University) started the game for the Gulls and pitched three innings, allowed just one earned run. Nate Leibold (University of California Los Angeles) went the next three innings and also gave up just one earned run. Braden Ostrander (Florida Atlantic University) came in and pitched the next two innings. Grant Umberger (University of Toledo)registered his fifth save of the season as he polished off the ninth inning.
Newport will be back at home on Friday July 21st when they take on the Keene Swamp Bats at historic Cardines Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 and will be broadcasted live on the NECBL broadcast network.
