The fourth edition of the Pell Bridge Series this season had plenty of drama and the Newport Gulls ultimately prevailed 6-5 in an intense 11-inning contest. Over the course of a four hour game, both managers were ejected and despite two comeback efforts from Ocean State, Newport managed to get the job done.
Neither team could score in the first two innings but Ocean State manager Matthew Rienzi was tossed out of the game in the second inning for arguing the strike zone with the home plate umpire. That turned out to be just the start of a heated game for both sides. The Gulls managed to break the deadlock in the third inning when Tyler Minnick (Middle Tennessee State) cranked a leadoff home run off Waves starter Matt Alduino.
Joe Hauser replaced Alduino after the fourth for Ocean State and that’s when Newport added on to its lead. Tyler Minnick continued an impressive night with a leadoff single and eventually scored on a double from Tyler Hare (Wofford) to give the Gulls a 2-0 lead.
Brad Pruett (East Carolina) was Newport’s starting pitcher and had an impressive start, going five scoreless innings and only conceded two hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts. Drew Blake (Oklahoma State) entered out of the bullpen for the sixth and pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts to preserve the shutout.
Jack Smith pitched the seventh for the Waves and the Gulls tacked on another run in that frame. Tyler Minnick delivered his third hit of the game with another single and ultimately got to third after Andrew Duncan (Florida State) was hit by a pitch and Tyler Hare (Wofford) was walked. Then, with Brody Szako (Austin Peay) at the plate, a passed ball allowed Mnnick to come home and give Newport a 3-0 lead.
Adam Walker (Austin Peay) pitched the seventh and tallied a couple of strikeouts to keep it a 3-0 game. Colby Holcombe (Mississippi State) became Newport’s fourth pitcher in the eighth inning and Zac Zyons led off the frame with a single. After Holcombe bounced back with a strikeout, he walked Eric Genther to put two runners on base. Donovan Cash followed that up with a massive three-run blast to suddenly tie the game at 3-3.
Nick Conte pitched the eighth and ninth, successfully preventing Newport from scoring any more runs. With one out in the ninth inning and Andrew Duncan at the plate, Newport manager Mike Coombs was furious about a strike called that he believed was a ball and came out of the dugout with some choice words for the home plate umpire. Coombs was persistent and eventually thrown out of the game for his first ejection of the summer. Ocean State had a chance to walk it off in the ninth but couldn’t do so and the game went to extra innings.
The Waves went to AJ Jones in the 10th and Tyler Hare (Wofford) was the runner at second to begin the extra frame. The inning started out promising for the Waves after the first two batters of the inning were retired by Jones. However, a high pop up from Nolan Stevens (Mississippi State) was dropped by Ocean State third baseman Tristan Head and that allowed Hare to score and gave Newport the lead. It then went from bad to worse for the Waves as Matt Ossenfort (NC State) hit a ball to center field and Tommy Meluskey couldn’t make the play for another error and that enabled Stevens to come around and score, giving the Gulls a 5-3 lead.
Colby Holcombe stayed in to pitch the 10th for Newport and Ocean State simply wouldn’t go away. Tommy Meluskey was the runner who started the inning at second base and Zac Zyons was hit by a pitch to begin the frame and put two runners on base. That was followed by consecutive strikeouts from Holcombe to bring the Waves to their last life. That’s when Donovan Cash delivered a single to drive in Meluskey and cut Newport’s lead down to one. Tristan Head then followed that up with a single of his own to score Zyons and tie the game at 5-5. Holcombe struck out Zach Plasschaert after that to send the game to the 11th inning.
In the final inning of the game, Dixon Williams started as the runner on second and Thomas Turner became Ocean State’s sixth pitcher of the night. Jake Burley (Wake Forest) was walked to start things off and after Luke Orbon (St. John’s) struck out, Andrew Duncan was intentionally walked to load the bases. Then, Tyler Hare struck out for the second out. With Brody Szako at the plate, Turner walked him and Newport reclaimed the lead as Williams came home from third to make it 6-5. Randy Seymour (Michigan State) was retired after that to keep it a one run game.
Colby Holcombe remained in for the Gulls in the 11th with the Waves needing one run to end the game in a tie and two to win. Zach Plasschaert was the runner at second to begin the inning for Ocean State. Holcombe began the frame with a strikeout before walking Eric Fernandez. With runners at first and second, the righty tallied another strikeout to bring Newport one out away from victory. The intensity was only amplified by a walk to Zac Zyons after that to load the bases up for the Waves. With the tying run on third and winning run at second, Holcombe delivered the knockout punch with his 11th strikeout of the night against Ryan Cooney to clinch a dramatic 6-5 victory for the Gulls.
The road team has now won all four games of the Pell Bridge Series this summer with Newport claiming the last three and taking a 3-1 lead in the season series. The two rivals square off three more times in the regular season with all three meetings at Cardines Field. The Gulls improved to 14-7 with the win while the Waves have lost five straight and dropped to 9-12. Newport now has a 3.5 game lead for first place in the Coastal Division and will enjoy an off day tomorrow. The Gulls return to action on Thursday for a 4th of July showdown with the Keene SwampBats. First pitch is set for 6:35 from Cardines Field.
