NECBL All-Star Game Finishes in 8-8 Tie in Newport
July 18, 2016 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT, R.I. - The 23rd Annual NECBL All-Star Game between the Northern and Southern All-Stars ended in an 8-8 tie on Sunday night at Cardines Field, the home of the host team Newport Gulls.
Keene's Jordan Howard (Lee University) earned co-John Watterson Most Valuable Player honors along with New Bedford's Darrien Ragins (Delaware State). Howard had a game-high three RBI, including a two-run home run in the top of the third inning. Ragins came in relief for the Southern Division and closed out the ninth, preventing a threatening Northern All-Stars team from scoring and preserving the opportunity for a walk-off victory.
With the North leading 2-0, the Northerners found their power and continued to stretch their lead on the South. Howard, unable to hit a home run in the NECBL Home Run Derby earlier today, found his stroke as he sent a deep line-drive over the right-field fence. Howard's two-run homer scored Anthony Godino (Winnipesaukee) to open the North's lead to 4-0.
The Northern All-Stars continued to score runs in the fourth. Erik Ostberg (Valley) sent the first pitch he saw over the right-field fence for a two-run home run. Vermont's Michael Osinski scored on Ostberg's home run after reaching base on a fielding error by the South.
Nick Angelini (Ocean State) was a bright spot for the Southern All-Stars in the home half of the third, reaching on an infield hit to the first baseman. Angelini's hustle and aggressive base running put him in scoring position, and he later scored on Grant Williams' (Ocean State) sacrifice fly to deep centerfield, putting the South on the board, but they moved into the game's final act down 8-1.
After his South teammates plated two runs to get the momentum back in the home team's direction, South Division All-Star Stephen Scott (Newport), who had a two home-run, five RBI game earlier this week in Newport, took advantage of his home field and launched a two-run bomb to deep centerfield. Scott's home run cut the Northern Division's lead to 8-5.
Cole Gordon (Plymouth) produced a clutch two-run double in the home half of the eighth. Gordon sent a frozen rope through the right side of the infield, and the ball traveled to the right-center fence as the Southern Division All-Stars continued to bounce back, trailing 8-7.
Brian Sharp (Plymouth) kept the momentum moving for the Southern Division All-Stars. Sharp sent a flare down the left-side for an RBI double, scoring Plymouth teammate Gordon to tie the All-Star game at 8-8 in the eighth inning.
Despite several attempts for both squads to score the winning run in the ninth inning, the pitching did their job and prevented any more runs, resulting in the 8-8 tie. The Southern All-Stars had the last opportunity with the bases loaded and one out. Mystic Schooner Aaron Hill grounded a slow roller to the middle infield, and the Northern All-Stars completed a double play to end the game.
Earlier in the day at Cardines Field, the 2016 NECBL Home Run Derby featured some of the biggest power hitters in the league this season, as one member from each team participated in the derby. The participants saved the best for last, as the final two hitters, Mikael Mogues (Vermont) and Gabe Snyder (Newport), combined for 16 home runs in the first round, with Mogues powering seven and Snyder launching nine.
Snyder's power continued into the final round as he dazzled the crowd and launched another 11 homers, and was named the 2016 NECBL Home Run Derby Champion with a combined total of 20 home runs. Mogues was the home run derby runner-up with a total of nine home runs. Each player in the first round had 10 outs to work with; the two finalists had just five outs in Round Two.
The NECBL All-Star Fastest Runner Competition, a 60-Yard Dash, was won by Plymouth's Michael DeRenzi with a time of 6.32 seconds over Newport's Travis Young (6.47 seconds) in the second round. The 60-Yard Dash featured a group of 12 individuals from teams across the NECBL. All participants ran in the qualifying round, with the top two individuals advancing to the final round. DeRenzi recorded the fastest time in the qualifying round with a time of 6.26 seconds. Young earned the second fastest time of 6.36 seconds.
Newport previously hosted the NECBL All-Star Game in 2005 and 2010, but Sunday night's crowd of 3,116 eclipsed both previous attendance marks for the exhibition in Newport. An estimated 70 Major League Baseball scouts attended the game, with a battery of radar guns trained on the NECBL's top talent from behind home plate.
The Newport Gulls, meanwhile, return to action tonight to make up their lone rainout of the season. They'll travel for the first time to Paul Walsh Field in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to play the Bay Sox, one of three trips there in the season's final two weeks. On the road Tuesday to face Connecticut's Danbury Westerners, the Gulls return to Cardines Wednesday night to square off against the Bay Sox at 6:35 p.m. for People's Credit Union FANatic About Reading Night.
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