Gulls Raise over $10,000 for Heather Abbott, Sweep Double Header
July 30, 2013 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT, R.I. - The Newport Gulls organization came through for Newport resident Heather Abbott on Tuesday night at Cardines Field, raising just under $11,000 for the Heather Abbott Recovery Fund. Abbott, 38 of Newport, fell victim to injury during the Boston Marathon bombings back in April, losing a portion of her right leg.
Prior to the night, the Newport Gulls, Bridge to Fitness, dozens of sponsors and Abbott's family and friends raised $7,000 for her fund, which was then added to through auctions and raffles during the home match-up against the Ocean State Waves. Newport's 50/50 raffle garnered $550 while door donations raised $3,400.
Meanwhile, Newport Gulls, in a complete turn-around from last night's contest against Mystic, combined for 11 runs on 12 hits against the Vermont Mountaineers in an 11-3 win over the Western Division powerhouse in a 2 p.m. 9-inning makeup game, then went on to do the same offensive onslaught to the Ocean State Waves in the evening's regularly scheduled matchup with a 14-3 victory.
The Mountaineers struggled against Gulls southpaw Mark McCoy, who picked up his second win of the season going six and 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out two. However, Vermont faced additional trouble on the field.
In the fourth inning, Vermont's acting manager was ejected from the contest for arguing balls and strikes with plate umpire Pat Burns, leaving the Mountaineers without a manager. On Monday night, the Mountaineers saw manager Joe Brown, an assistant coach, and the team's general manager ejected from a game against the Danbury Westerners, leaving them with only one coach for the afternoon match-up with Newport due to automatic league 1-game suspensions.
The Mountaineers struggled to stifle the bats of the Gulls, as they added nine RBI to their team total aided by home-runs from Steve Anderson and Ben Roberts, both with blasts over the right-field wall for each batter's fourth round-tripper of the season.
Timmy Robinson, in his first start of the season coming off of a foot injury, went 3 for 5 in the afternoon set with an RBI, sliding comfortably back into the right-field six hole.
In the nightcap vs. Ocean State,Connor Kelly struggled against the flock's bats as he allowed Newport to score five times in the second inning. Steve Anderson, leading off the second, hit a solo-shot deep over the right-field wall - his second homer of the day - to put Newport on the board first.
The following three Gulls would reach base giving center fielder Cody Jones a bases loaded plate appearance. Jones would capitalize on the opportunity hitting a two RBI double to right-center field to make it 3-0 Newport.
Shea Donlin would mirror Jones' double bagger with an extra base hit of his own to bring home two runs on a no-out double to further Newport's lead to five.
The Waves answered in the fourth on a Mike Gerber sacrifice fly to center-field to bring home Evan Ocello from third, cutting Newport's lead to four. They would further cut the deficit further in the sixth on a Caden Bailey RBI single to bring home the second Wave of the night, making the score 5-2 Gulls.
Wild pitching in the bottom half of the inning would hurt the Waves' efforts as the Gulls would score six times in the inning. Middle reliever Austin French tossed two wild pitches in the dirt allowing Donlin and Jones to score with the bases loaded. Anderson kept the flock's offense pumping following a Ben Roberts walk with a blooper to shallow left to bring English from third to make it 8-2 Newport. Breaking the game wide open would be Ethan Ferreira with a two RBI single to make it 11-2 Newport following a walk and a single from Winger and Robinson respectively.
Mike Gerber would tack on the third and final run for the Waves with a solo home-run in the top of the seventh.
Steve Anderson was not finished, however, coming out of an offensive slump with his second home-run of the game, and third of the day, with a two-run blast over the right-field fence to ice the victory for Sean Hartnett.
With the win, the Newport Gulls improve to 25-14, reaching the 25-win benchmark for the 13th consecutive season, while the Ocean State Waves drop to 23-18. Newport also won the Pell Bridge series vs. Wakefield's Waves four games to two, taking two games at Old Mountain Field and two at Cardines.
Tomorrow the Gulls will play a set of two sevens against the Plymouth Pilgrims at home. James Mulry (1-1, 1.70 ERA) will get the start in the afternoon against Tyler Honahan (0-4, 6.36 ERA) of the Pilgrims at 3 p.m., followed by a 6:35 p.m. nightcap.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 30, 2013
- Blue Sox Drop 1-0 Game to Saratoga - Valley Blue Sox
- Gulls Raise over $10,000 for Heather Abbott, Sweep Double Header - Newport Gulls
- Bay Sox Doubled up by Sanford - New Bedford Bay Sox
- Keene Keeps Winning, Defeat North Adams 3-1 - Keene Swamp Bats
- 'Cats Drop Final Contest at Keene, 3-1, Tuesday Night - North Adams SteepleCats
- Bay Sox Power Their Way Past Muskrats, 13-6 - New Bedford Bay Sox
- Bartlett Shuts Down Mainers, Leads Brigade to Victory - Sanford Mainers
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