Gulls Defeat Pilgrims 5-2 at Cardines Field
July 4, 2015 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT, R.I. - After a big road loss Thursday and continual up and down play, the Newport Gulls returned home where they have always performed better on Friday night. The home cooking was exactly what the team needed, as the Gulls (13-8) defeated the Plymouth Pilgrims (9-10) 5-2 in front of a sellout crowd at Cardines Field.
The first few innings played evenly, as both pitchers were lights out early on. James Karinchak tossed five shutout innings for the fourth time in five starts this season and struck out nine Pilgrims to earn the win for Newport.
Pitching coach Kevin Long said this was Karinchak's best outing of the season.
"He was very diligent in his preparation process for this start," Long said. "What catapulted him to a higher level today was his changeup and how effective it was today. He had a good differential and change of speeds and he was throwing it for strikes a significant amount of times."
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Newport bats came alive. The Gulls plated five runs on five hits in the inning against Packey Naughton to swing momentum to the hosts.
The biggest hit of the inning was a single by Reed Gamache that scored two runs and put the Gulls definitively in control of the game.
Karinchak left the game after the fifth inning, giving way to Quinn Brodey, who started the game as the designated hitter. Brodey struggled through the inning, walking three batters on his way to giving up two runs to make it a 5-2 game.
Brodey got into trouble again in the seventh inning, allowing runners on second and third after a throwing error when he slipped throwing a ball to first base. Brodey kept the Pilgrims off the board, however, as he got Justin Smith to fly out to deep centerfield.
Carson LaRue, who had not been sharp before Friday, pitched a beautiful eighth inning, striking out a batter and locating pitches better than he had previously to this point in the season.
Long said he talked to LaRue Thursday night to let him know of his role and the advance notice showed in how he pitched.
"Carson has been working really hard... to get prepared," Long said. "He had a lot of time to warm up and he was very, very focused when he was out on the mound."
Over their last 10 games, Newport is 4-6 and is now tied for second place in the NECBL Southern Division.
"Summer ball is a game of momentum," Gamache said. "You win one and then you start rolling. We had that eight-game win streak and that really got us rolling, so maybe this can start another one."
The win made Karinchak the NECBL's first four-game winner in 2015, while closer Brendan Spagnuolo notched his league-leading sixth save in the ninth inning. The contest was watched by a crowd of 2,816, the largest yet this season at Cardines Field.
The Gulls will be celebrating Independence Day in Groton, Connecticut against the Mystic Schooners. Rob Masse and Alex Teixeira will have the call from Fitch High School Field with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. on the NECBL Broadcast Network. The Gulls are off Sunday and return home on Monday night to square off against the Ocean State Waves in the latest Pell Bridge Series matchup at 6:35 p.m.
For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit www.facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 4, 2015
- Mountaineers win over Sanford - Vermont Mountaineers
- Waves power past Westerners, 5-3 - Ocean State Waves
- Gulls Defeat Pilgrims 5-2 at Cardines Field - Newport Gulls
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