Gulls Dominate in 8-1 Win vs. Danbury
July 13, 2013 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT - Five times this season, Gulls right-hander Brett Graves has started a game at Cardines Field, and, thanks to an 8-1 showing over Danbury on Friday, five times his team has come out with the win.
Newport dominated once again Friday night at Cardines, after Brett Graves shut down the Danbury Westerners through six scoreless innings, retiring the last 13 batters he faced en route to an 8-1 Newport win. Between Graves - who has only allowed two total runs in his five starts - and the Newport bullpen, the Gulls have only allowed five runs to their opposition in games where Graves takes the hill.
Once again, Graves shined, striking out six and walking just two, allowing three early singles before settling down and facing the minimum in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. His only jam came in a bases-loaded situation in the second, in which Zach Blanden bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning, as the defense again turned in an errorless contest.
The Gulls bullpen was again solid, as Kyle Hart allowed just one run in two innings, striking out three, and Milan Mantle struck out two in a scoreless ninth to shut the door on Danbury. With the victory, his fourth of the year, Graves, a second year Gull, lowered his season ERA to a microscopic 0.61 ahead of the 2013 NECBL All-Star Game's selection weekend.
Meanwhile, Newport's offense, coming off a 16-hit performance Thursday night in a 9-0 win at North Adams, was led by first baseman Steve Anderson, fresh from a day off the previous night, as he went 2-4 with a walk, 2-run double, and solo homer to right, bumping his average up to .268 and picking up his 30th RBI of the season, far and away leading the NECBL. Keene's J.P. Sportman trails in second place with 20 and Holyoke's Brendan Hendriks is third in the league with 18.
With 20 games to go, Anderson is currently on a pace to surpass the NECBL RBI record, set last year by Vermont's Rob Kelly, who drove in 45, as well as the Gulls team record, which, at 40, was set in 2006 by Jim Murphy and tied in 2008 by Alex Gregory. The homer, Anderson's team-leading third of the year (tied for second in the NECBL), was his 13th extra-base hit. The second-year Gull has also been patient at the plate, picking up 15 walks.
While Anderson set the pace, Cody Jones went 3-5 from the leadoff spot with three runs scored and stole his 15th base of the summer, and Trace Tam Sing went 2-4 with a double, walk, two runs scored, and his seventh swiped bag. Ben Roberts extended his hitting streak to 10-straight games, the longest active in the NECBL, hitting his league-leading 14th double while picking up a single, walk, and his 15th RBI.
Shea Donlin went 1-3 with an RBI single and a walk, Ty Moore picked up a single, going 1-4, Joel McKeithan walked twice and scored, and Adrian English drove in a run and went 1-4 at the plate, rounding out a deep offensive attack for Newport.
The Gulls outhit Danbury 12-7, scoring three in the first, one each in the second and third, and three more in the fourth in front of 2,109 for Middletown PMC Kids Ride Against Cancer Night at Cardines Field, attended by dozens of youth and community leaders, many of whom rode their bikes around the field during pregame ceremonies, raising money to fight cancer. A quartet from the Ancient Order of Hiberians Pipes and Drums provided the crowd with pregame music.
With the Ocean State Waves idle, the Gulls extended their NECBL East division lead to a game and a half, and will face the Waves in Game 5 of the six-game Pell Bridge Series Saturday night at 6:35 p.m. at Old Mountain Field in Wakefield, R.I. LHP Mark McCoy (0-1, 0.58 ERA) will have the start for the Gulls vs. probable Waves starter RHP Tyler Bowditch (2-0, 2.48 ERA).
The game will be broadcast live via Teamline and the NECBL Broadcast Network via www.newportgulls.com, as Tristan Hobbes and Nick Lima will be on the air with the pregame show at 6:25. Newport stays on the road for Sunday, traveling to Laconia, N.H. for a 6:30 game against the Muskrats, and, losing a scheduled off day, will travel to Sanford, Maine on Monday for a 3:30 double header vs. the Sanford Mainers at Goodall Park to make up two previous rainouts.
The Gulls will make up another rainout (from July 1) at Cardines Field on Tuesday as they host the Muskrats at 6:35 p.m., and will continue the home stand on Wednesday as they host the Mainers. An off-day Thursday will be followed by a Friday night contest vs. the Saratoga Brigade at Cardines Field.
The game vs. the Westerners was the Gulls first against Danbury since Newport swept them out of the 2012 NECBL Championship Series last August.
As the Gulls improved to 5-2 vs. the West with last night's win, they'll prepare to play six games vs. Eastern Division competition over the next five days in one of the 2013 season's most critical stretches of baseball.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 13, 2013
- Ben Roberts Rallies Newport Gulls Past Ocean State Waves - Newport Gulls
- Newport nips Waves, 5-4, on Saturday - Ocean State Waves
- Swamp BatâÃâ¬Ãâ¢s Win Streak Ends At Six, Fall To North Adams 5-4 - Keene Swamp Bats
- Burke Throws Complete Game Shutout - Valley Blue Sox
- Anderson's Two-Run Homer Lifts 'Cats to 5-4 Victory over Swamp Bats - North Adams SteepleCats
- Bay Sox Stifled by Mystic - New Bedford Bay Sox
- NECBL Has Stand out at Each Level of Baseball - NECBL
- Gulls Dominate in 8-1 Win vs. Danbury - Newport Gulls
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