Game 1
Newport, R.I. – The Newport Gulls cruised to a 10-2 victory against the Mystic Schooners in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Wednesday July 5th at Cardines Field. The game was continued from June 12th when it was suspended due to inclement weather.
Before the game was suspended, the Schooners jumped on the board in the first inning thanks to a home run by Bobby Marsh to put Mystic up 1-0 over Newport.
The Gulls were able to return the favor in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff double by Niko Brini (University of Connecticut), Michael Anderson (University of Rhode Island) launched his first home run of the season to give Newport a 2-1 lead.
The game was suspended with two-outs in the second inning.
Upon resumption of the game, the Gulls pounced on the Schooners, scoring two runs on two hits in the second inning. Newport received a pair of RBI singles by Brini and Sam Kulasingam (United States Air Force Academy) to stretch the lead to 4-1.
The Gulls made it 5-1 in the fourth inning on Kulasingam’s second home run of the season.
Landon Moran led off the sixth inning with a walk and later came around to score on a two out RBI single by Drew Kron. Unfortunately for the Schooners, that would be all for their scoring as the Gulls bullpen shut them down for the rest of the game.
Newport would tack on five more runs in the eighth inning as they put the cherry on top. Five straight Gulls batters reached base to begin the inning and all five came around to score. The highlight of the inning came off the bat of Trent Farquhar (Michigan State University) who hit his third home run of the season. After the offensive onslaught, the Gulls led 10-2 after eight innings and held on for victory.
Aiven Cabral (Northeastern University) started the game and went 1.2 innings before the game was suspended and gave up one run. Jake Hunter (East Carolina University) started the resumption of the game and did not allow a run over 3.1 innings. Santosh Gottam (Brown University) was the third pitcher used by the Gulls and struck out five batters over three innings. Brian Hendry (Oklahoma State University) shut the door in the ninth inning to secure the 19th win of the season for Newport.
Game 2
Newport, R.I. – The Newport Gulls swept a doubleheader against the Mystic Schooners after a 6-1 victory in game 2 against the Mystic Schooners on Wednesday night at Cardines Field.
The Gulls scored a run without the benefit of a hit to jump out to an early 1-0 lead. Kulasingam hit a sacrifice fly to score Anthony Donofrio (University of North Carolina) who walked to lead off the inning and stole two bases.
Newport chipped in another run on a Donofrio RBI double which plated Slate Alford (University of Georgia) who reached on a single to start the second inning. After two innings of play, Newport led 2-0 over Mystic.
The Schooners would get on the board in the fifth on an RBI double by Drew Kron which scored Caleb Shpur after he singled. On the extra base hit by Kron, Mystic cut the Newport lead in half.
The Gulls would finally pull away in the bottom of the inning. Kulasingam singled to score Kolby Branch (University of Georgia). Then with two runners on, Matthew Schark (University of Southern Illinois) cranked his second home run of the season to push the lead to 6-1. The Gulls would hold on to sweep the doubleheader and improve to 20-4 on the season.
Adam Maher (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth) started the game and pitched four scoreless innings, striking out five. Ryan Andrade (University of Pittsburgh) followed Maher and gave up a run over one inning. David Horn (Vanderbilt University) pitched a scoreless sixth inning and Nolan Pender (Bellarmine University) closed the door in the seventh.
Newport will return to Cardines Field on Friday July, 7th when they take on the Sanford Mainers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 and will be broadcasted live on ESPN+.
