After an enthralling comeback victory on Friday night against Bristol, the Newport Gulls didn’t possess the same magic on Saturday as they fell 8-3 to the North Shore Navigators in a Coastal Division matchup.
Cole Cheatham (Mississippi State) made his second start of the summer and began his outing with two scoreless frames. That changed in the third inning when North Shore applied the pressure and capitalized. After Will Burns was walked, the top four batters in the Navigators lineup all delivered singles to take a 3-0 lead. Cheatham’s start turned out to be a short one as Nick DiRito (UMass Lowell) entered in the fourth for Newport. The Navigators did a little more damage in the fourth in an inning that started with back-to-back walks. Eventually, Ryan Wideman scored on an error to make it 4-0.
On the other side, Ryan Buckler was North Shore’s starting pitcher and was very effective throughout the evening. The righty frustrated Newport’s offense and wrapped up an impressive performance by retiring the last 10 batters he faced. After six scoreless innings, Ryan Griffin took over on the mound.
DiRito ran into some trouble early in the sixth and that’s when Michal Kovala (Chipola) entered for the Gulls. After the first two batters of the inning reached on walks, a Kyle Jones single scored Andrew Bianco and that was followed by a sacrifice fly from Will Burns to drive in Ryan Wideman. The Navigators managed to add another run when a double from Reece Moroney drove in Danny MacDougall to give North Shore a 7-0 lead. The Navigators added even more insurance in the seventh. The inning started with a walk to Matt Chatelle and he ultimately scored on a wild pitch to give the hosts a commanding 8-0 lead.
Holding onto a slimmer of hope, Newport’s offense finally delivered in the eighth inning. A double from Jack Doyle (Northeastern), a hit by pitch to Niko Brini (Wofford) and single from Andrew Duncan (Florida State) loaded the bases and the first Gulls run came off the bat of Tyler Hare (Wofford), who’s single brought Doyle in from third. That’s when the Navigators decided to bring out reinforcement from the bullpen in Ryan Bradley. With the bases again loaded, a wild pitch allowed Brini to come home and make it 8-2.
Mason Ulsh (Quinnipiac) pitched the eighth for the Gulls in his second appearance of the summer and allowed just one hit in a scoreless inning. Newport’s last chance in the ninth started on a positive note with a Nolan Stevens (Mississippi State) double. After a groundout advanced Stevens to third, a Luke Orbon (St. John’s) sacrifice fly brought Stevens home to cut the deficit to five. Jack Doyle reached on a walk and Niko Brini did the same on a hit by pitch but North Shore put an end to that momentum when pinch hitter Carmelo Musacchia (Northeastern) flew out to end the ballgame and give the Navigators an 8-3 win.
The loss drops Newport to 12-7 while North Shore has won three in a row to get to 9-9. The Gulls hit the road again on Sunday for a matinee with the Valley Blue Sox. First pitch from Mackenzie Stadium is at 1.
