It wasn’t a usual Gulls win, but it was perfection nonetheless. While the offense was only able to put up 4 runs on a gorgeous Friday evening, it did not matter as the pitching staff put on their best performance of the year, with the two Drews(Blake and DeLucia) holding Mystic to two total runs, while recording an unreal 16 strikeouts.
After a homer from Mystic’s Christian Scanlon in the top of the 1st, the Gulls would respond an inning later. Tyler Minnick(Middle Tennessee St.) drew a walk, before being driven in on a gap-shot double from Niko Brini(Wofford) to tie the game at 1. It would stay that way until the fourth, when the scriptwriters copy pasted from the second inning, with Minnick drawing a walk before Brini went to the right center wall to drive him in on his 2nd double of the night.
In a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 7th, Greg Bozzo(Northeastern) hit an inside out fastball into the right-center ivy for a leadoff double. After advancing to 3rd on a groundout, Bozzo took off for the plate on a wild pitch that kicked to the backstop. He dove for the plate and after the dust settled, the home plate umpire was signaling safe, and once again, the Gulls would lead, this time at 3-2.
In the 8th, they would add insurance. Randy Seymour(Michigan St.) hit a seeing-eye double 100 feet. Following a sacrifice groundout by Brini, Jack Doyle(Northeastern) hammered a sacrifice fly deep to center, cementing a 2-run lead headed to the 9th.
Drew Blake(Oklahoma St.) got the start for the Gulls. Blake, in his fourth start of the season pitched a gem, recording five of his first six outs via the K en route to an outstanding nine strikeout, 3 hit performance through five strong innings, holding the schooners to 2 runs.
After Blake, Drew DeLucia(Franklin Pierce) would take over. No one expected more than two innings out of the righty, but he didn’t care. He threw four scoreless innings, recording 7 Ks to get the gulls to the finish line, working out of a bases loaded situation in the 7th, and closing the door with two runners on in the 9th.
With this win the Gulls improve to 23-12 while Mystic falls to 19-15. Newport finishes the 1st half of the regular season tomorrow evening on the road at Samford before the All Star Break begins. They return to Cardines to begin the final week of the regular season next Wednesday against Martha’s Vineyard.
