Sports stats



Ryan Markey, Paul Gozzo Spark Late Rally as Bay Sox Top Westerners 5-3

July 8, 2019 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
New Bedford Bay Sox News Release


In a season filled with close losses, the New Bedford Bay Sox rallied late and were the beneficiary of an odd final play in their 5-3 win over the Danbury Westerners on Monday night at Paul Walsh Field.

With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Ryan Markey (St. John's) and Paul Gozzo (UConn) ripped back-to-back RBI doubles, snapping the Bay Sox' six-game losing streak and pushing Danbury to 0-6 in the month of July. New Bedford has lost six games by one run, and 11 of their 18 defeats have been by three runs or fewer, including both losses in a doubleheader with Upper Valley on Sunday.

Shane Reardon (UMass Dartmouth) hurled 2.2 innings of scoreless relief for his first win of the season, while Jake Rockefeller (Rhode Island) earned a one-pitch save, as Danbury's Lyndon Weaver was picked off trying to steal third base to end the game. Julian Washburn (San Francisco) tossed the first 5.1 innings, allowing all three Westerners runs in the sixth after five no-hit innings of work in his second straight fantastic home start.

Both Markey and Gozzo had two hits for New Bedford (6-18), while six of the seven other batters in the lineup reached base at least once. The Bay Sox staff limited Danbury (12-10) to just five hits, as the Westerners entered Monday's makeup game with a league-leading .310 batting average, and had five players in their lineup batting .300 or higher on the season.

The early innings of the game shaped up like a classic pitcher's duel, as both Washburn and Danbury starter Derek Duffy put zeroes up on the board through the first 3 ½ innings of play. Their defenses were flashing the leather to back up the solid pitching, with two stellar defensive plays highlighting the second inning. New Bedford's Thomas Blandini (Southern New Hampshire) barehanded a high chopper at third and gunned down his defensive counterpart Nicholas Lorusso, while Danbury SS Alex Bello responded with a terrific 360 move behind second base to rob Rafe Chaumette (Trinity) of a base hit in the bottom of the frame.

The Bay Sox broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth, as they plated two runs to take a 2-0 lead. Alex Brickman (Dayton) led off with a single to left field, and moved up to second on a ball that deflected off the glove of Duffy, preventing the Westerners from possibly turning a double play. Chaumette reached on a walk, setting the stage for Tommy Seidl (Harvard), who drove in the first run of the night with a double to center field. Josh Goldstein (Southern New Hampshire) hit a sac fly to center to score Chaumette and drive in his sixth run of the season.

Washburn took a no-hitter into the sixth inning for his second straight start, but ran into trouble immediately, as the potent Westerners lineup finally struck. Washburn hit Weaver to begin the frame, then allowed a single by Noah Dickerson for Danbury's first hit of the evening. After retiring Caleb Upshaw, who entered the game leading the league with a .455 average, the junior hurler could not silence Sonny Ulliana, who singled to drive in Weaver with Danbury's first run. Washburn walked Lorusso and was pulled with the sacks packed, and reliever Will Tomlinson (Brown) could not hold the lead, giving up a fielder's choice and a single to tie the game at 3-3. Tomlinson was able to strand three runners with an inning-ending strikeout to keep the score tied, which proved to be a key momentum shifter in the back-and-forth Southern Division contest.

Reardon tossed a perfect seventh inning, bouncing back after a rough outing in his last appearance during the Bay Sox' 13-6 loss to Martha's Vineyard last Friday night. His offense responded to the quick top of the frame, as they regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Blandini beat out an infield single with one out, with Markey and Paul Gozzo belting their consecutive RBI doubles to nearly the same spot in the left field gap for a 5-3 lead for the home squad to cap the scoring on a beautiful summer night.

The Bay Sox are back in action on Tuesday night, as they host the Martha's Vineyard Sharks for the third time in the past week. The Mystic Schooners will visit New Bedford on Thursday evening after one of New Bedford's final days off of the season, as the NECBL schedule compresses due to the rainy month of June.



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 8, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central