MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA – Behind a stellar outing on the mound from Adam Maher and an impressive performance from Garrett Staton, the Newport Gulls came out on top 4-1 against the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks to open up the 2024 season.
Adam Maher (UMass Dartmouth) is one of four returners from last year’s championship team and his experience showed in a dominant start Tuesday night at the Shark Tank. After allowing a double in the first inning, the southpaw retired 14 straight batters before finally giving up a single in the sixth. That included a spell between the second and fifth inning in which he struck out five consecutive batters. In total, Maher recorded 12 strikeouts without walking a single walk and only allowed two hits in six scoreless innings.
On the other side, Brian Young (Rider) got the start for Martha’s Vineyard and was quickly welcomed to the game by Newport’s leadoff hitter, Garrett Staton (Samford), who hit a double to start things off. That was just the beginning of a loud night at the plate for Staton who scored the Gulls’ first run in that opening inning, coming home from third on a fielder’s choice.
With Newport leading 1-0 after the first, it would stay that way for a while as Young settled in and didn’t allow another hit until the fifth inning. The score stayed that way until the sixth when Garrett Staton once again made his presence felt and blasted the first home run of the summer over the center field wall moments after Mac McCommons was hit by a pitch to give the Gulls a 3-0 lead. Young managed to retire the next three batters and that would wrap up his night. The lefty only allowed three hits, with two of them being to Staton. He also didn’t walk anyone and tallied four strikeouts before Dante Pavone (Bucknell) entered the game.
Adam Maher’s night also came to an end after six as Casey O’Dell (Florida Southern) entered from the bullpen in the seventh frame. After putting away the first two batters he faced, a Will Lybrook (Harvard) solo home run put the Sharks on the board. That turned out to be the only real blip in the road for O’Dell who finished out the game and only allowed one other hit with no walks and three strikeouts.
Offensively for Newport, Garrett Staton wasn’t finished. The Samford product led off the eighth inning with his second double and third hit of the game. He then reached third on a fielder’s choice and was driven home on a single from Brody Szako (Austin Peay). That gave the Gulls a 4-1 lead and that’s how things would end.
The Gulls finished with six hits and five of them came from Garrett Staton and Brock Murtha (Navy). Staton went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run while Murtha finished 2-for-4 with a double and a single. Newport’s pitching duo of Maher and O’Dell combined for 15 strikeouts and no walks while allowing just four hits.
Following a win on the road to open up the campaign, Newport continues its title defense tomorrow in its home opener against the Vermont Mountaineers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35.
