Gulls Hold off Bay Sox in 5-4 Win
July 9, 2013 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT - The Newport Gulls held off the New Bedford Bay Sox at Cardines Field on Monday Night, defeating their oldest divisional rival 5-4 and regaining sole possession of first place in the NECBL East.
In his fifth start this summer, right hander Mick VanVossen improved to 2-0, allowing four earned runs on six hits while walking just one and striking out five - including fanning the side in order in the second inning - en route to matching his longest start of the season (also a 7-inning victory) and capping a seven-day, eight-game stretch for the Gulls in which the team went 4-4 with three losses on the road, including a split of a Saturday double header at Mystic. VanVossen's five K's place him tied for fourth most in the league with 27 on the season.
Lefty Mark McCoy and righty Joe Iorio combined to hold back the Bay Sox offense in the 8th, before right-hander Kyle Wilcox struck out the side in the 9th around an infield hit to notch his third save this season in front of a crowd of 2,396 - the first 500 of whom received free Gulls T-shirts for "Clements' Marketplace Night."
The Gulls offensive attack was once again led by first baseman and two-time Gull Steve Anderson, who, after finishing Sunday's 4-3 loss at Plymouth with back-to-back doubles, doubled again in his first two at-bats Monday, driving in two runs (his 27 RBI far and away lead the NECBL) in the 1st to give Newport an early lead.
Newport would take advantage of four New Bedford errors while playing solid defense all night themselves, adding two more runs in the second before the Bay Sox responded with a Christian Venditti lead-off single, Carl Anderson double, and a two-run Shea Pierce double in the 3rd to make the score 4-2 Newport.
After doubling to lead off the 3rd, Anderson would come around to score a key insurance run following a Shea Donlin single and defensive miscue by the Bay Sox - the third in as many innings. A 4th-inning Ben Roberts lead-off double notched his 12th two-base hit this season, which leads the NECBL, although Roberts would be one of 10 runners the Gulls left on base, as they out-hit the Bay Sox 9-8.
A controversial play in the 6th, however, turned the game's final innings into a nail-biter. Following a Pierce lead-off single and Ryan Plourde being hit by a pitch, VanVossen induced a short fly ball and a ground out to come within one out of getting out of his biggest jam of the night. But Matt Lopez hit a deep fly ball to right-center field, near the infamous Cardines Field triangle, which was run down by Cody Jones.
Jones appeared to make a spectacular catch two steps in front of the 28-foot high fence, the ball popping out of his glove and landing back in it for the out to end the inning. But field umpire Keith Petersen ruled that the ball made contact with the wall after popping out of Jones' glove, and two runs came around to score. Despite a lengthy argument from Gulls manager Mike Coombs, the call stood; television replays later showed that Jones may have actually made the catch cleanly. Lopez was credited with a two-RBI triple.
The play put the Bay Sox within striking distance but did not give them the lead, and despite several late-inning chances, the Bay Sox were unable to push across the tying run. Newport improved to 3-1 vs. New Bedford this season; the two teams meet for the fifth and final time of the regular season on August 1 at Cardines Field.
At the exact midway point of the 2013 season - with 22 regular season games under their belt and 22 to go - the Gulls offense and pitching staff remains among the NECBL's best, while early defensive struggles that cost the team in June have, for them most part, been ironed out. Meanwhile, the Gulls stand a half-game ahead of the Ocean State Waves (15-10, 2-2 vs. Newport with two games remaining in the series), two games ahead of the third place Mystic Schooners (12-10, 1-3 vs. Newport with one game left), and two and a half up on the fourth place Laconia Muskrats (10-9, 1-1 vs. Newport with three games to go). The Mainers (10-11, 0-0 vs. Newport with five games remaining), Bay Sox (8-15, 1-3 vs. Newport with one game left) and Pilgrims (7-14, 1-2 vs. Newport with three games remaining) round out the East in fifth, sixth and seventh place (the top four teams will enter postseason play Aug. 4).
Meanwhile, the team with the league's best record, the West's Vermont Mountaineers (15-7), have seen two rainouts with the Gulls, which will be made up as part of a double header in Montpelier July 23. The Gulls are 1-0 against the West's second place team, the Saratoga Brigade (11-8), with one game remaining; they split the two-game season series with third-place Holyoke Blue Sox (11-11); and Newport is 1-0 vs. fourth place North Adams (10-12) while 0-1 vs. the sixth place Keene Swampbats (8-12), with one game remaining with each team. The Gulls have yet to play the fifth place Danbury Westerners (9-13).
The Gulls lone home loss over the recent eight-game stretch came at the hands of "Pell Bridge Series" rival Ocean State on Thursday, a team which the Gulls then stayed tied with for first place in the NECBL Eastern Division until Newport's victory Monday night (the Ocean State Waves were rained out at Vermont). Newport, at 14-8, now has 22 games left to play between July 10 (the Gulls are off Tuesday) and the regular season finale August 2, marking one of the longest and toughest stretches of baseball ahead in team history with only two off days nestled in between.
The Newport Gulls were at their best when playing daily in June - including an eight-game winning streak mid-month - but became inconsistent, dropping five of their last seven games before tonight's win, as a half dozen rainouts and weather issues kept the Gulls from attaining a solid rhythm. The Gulls also now have all of their pieces in, with several key position players and pitchers competing in the College World Series in Omaha in June (including national champion Ty Moore from UCLA).
Following Tuesday's day off, the Gulls return to action on Wednesday as they travel to Goodall Park in Sanford, Maine to face the Mainers for the first of five times this July. Lefty James Mulry (2-1, 2.89 ERA) will square off against Sanford's righty, Sam McKay (2-0, 1.50 ERA). The Gulls go back on the road to face the Western Division's North Adams SteepleCats on Thursday before returning home Friday to host the Danbury Westerners for the first time since the Gulls defeated them to win the 2012 NECBL Championship last August. The Gulls play Danbury a second and final time for the regular season finale, on the road at Rogers Park on August 2.
Friday's game at Cardines Field, PMC Fights Cancer Night, will include pink bat giveaways courtesy of The Water's Edge Flowers. Gates open at 5 p.m. and first pitch is scheduled for 6:35. The Gulls will take a weekend road trip to Ocean State and Laconia before traveling to Sanford Monday for a makeup of a rainout. The Gulls are then home Tuesday vs. Laconia in another makeup game
For more information, visit our website, www.newportgulls.com, and follow the team on Facebook and Twitter @NewportGulls.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 9, 2013
- Blue Sox Road-Bound against Mountaineers - Valley Blue Sox
- Sox drop heartbreaker to Keene in 13, 5-4 - Valley Blue Sox
- Swamp Bats Win In 13 Innings, Defeat Blue Sox For Fourth Straight Victory - Keene Swamp Bats
- Pair of Eagles Fly Mainers Past Schooners - Sanford Mainers
- Westerners Have Upcoming Home Games - Danbury Westerners
- Gulls Hold off Bay Sox in 5-4 Win - Newport Gulls
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