Timely Offense and Stellar Pitching Leave Bristol Playing the Blues
July 6, 2021 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT,R.I. - TheNewport Gulls defeated the Bristol Blues 5-2 Monday night at Cardines Field. Itwas not a prototypical offensive outburst from the Gulls, as they accumulatedjust four hits on the night, manufacturing most of their runs off of sevenwalks, four stolen bases, and a pair of game-tying sacrificeflies.
Newport'smajor blow came off the bat of Justin Guerrera, who blasted a longtwo-out, two-run doublehigh off the left-center field fence. The ball sailed through the branches ofone of the treesoverhanging the field, leading to a long discussion of how to rule the hit andwhere to placethe runners.
GraysonMoore leda solid performance from the Gulls pitching staff, giving up just two runs (oneearned) through five innings of work. The bullpen followed with four shutoutframes to closeout the affair.
TheBlues struck first in the ballgame. After retiring the leadoff batter in thetop of the second inning,Moore plunked Tyson Cooper, who advanced to third on a BrennenDorighi single. A wildthrow by Kenny Oyama on the play pushed Dorighi up to second, whichproved to be a key playas the next batter, Nate Vigeant, grounded what would have been apotential double-play ballto short that resulted in just one out and drove in Cooper.
TheGulls answered in the bottom of the third frame. After a walk and a steal ofsecond base, DawsonBrigman tookoff for third with two outs and a 3-2 count to Sam Cochrane, possibly figuringthere was a force play at third. The pitch missed the zone for a Cochrane walk,and Brigman,realizing his gaffe, stopped in the middle of the basepath as catcher ChadKnight firedto third. Fortunately for Newport, third baseman Vigeant could not corral thethrow, as it sailedinto the outfield allowing Brigman to score for the first Gulls run.
Inthe top of the fifth, after a leadoff hit by Dorighi and a walk from Vigeant,Moore induced a soft chopperoff the bat of Tyler Keith that bounced back to the mound. Fielding theball and spinningto second, Moore fired to Guerrera who gunned over to first to complete theclutch doubleplay. Despite the timely turn-for-two, on the next pitch Moore bounced abreaking ball throughthe legs of Peter Serruto allowing an unearned run to score and give the Bluesthe lead.
Inthe bottom of the frame, a leadoff walk by Spenser Smith paid dividends,as the shortstop advancedto second on a stolen base and to third on a ground-ball. With Smith on thirdand one out,Brigman drove a pitch into right field, deep enough to score a run and tie thegame at two apiece.
Newportkept the offensive momentum going in the bottom of the seventh with consecutive one-outhits by Smith and Oyama, the latter of which was a double out to deepright-center field.
TheBlues then chose to walk Brigman to load the bases and bring up Sam Cochrane,who respondedwith a sac-fly to center field to drive in the go-ahead run. With two outs andtwo runnerson, Justin Guerrera blasted a clutch two-run double off the left-field fence toextend the Gullslead to 5-2.
Newportcalled on relievers Bo Brutti and Grant Umberger to preserve thelead in the eighth andninth innings respectively. Brutti recorded a hold for his one scoreless inningof work, and Umbergerwas awarded a save for his shutout frame.
LoganWood andBlake Mahmood combined with Brutti and Umberger for a total of four shutoutinnings from Newport's bullpen in the game. The quartet gave up just two hitsand struckout six, with Mahmood earning the win for his efforts in the seventh frame.
Newportmoves to 13-7 on the season, a half-game up on the Valley Blue Sox (13-8). TheGulls continuetheir schedule at Cardines Field against the Mystic Schooners (11-10) on July 7at 6:35 pm.
For more information about the Newport Gulls, visitfacebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visitwww.newportgulls.com.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 6, 2021
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