DAI Roster Restoration
FOR IMMEDIATE Contact: Chuck Paiva
RELEASE President & General Manager
April 12, 2023 401-845-6832// gm@newportgulls.com DAI Roster Restoration
Two More Bulldogs Join the Gulls
NEWPORT, RI- When their season concludes, William Gibbs and Aaron Downs of Mississippi State will play their first season of collegiate summer baseball with the Newport Gulls. The Bulldog teammates are two of the four future Gulls joining the team from Mississippi State. The Gulls look forward to watching both players progress in their freshman season.
William Gibbs of Flowood, Mississippi is a 6’0” 180-pound Freshman RHP. Prior to enrolling at Mississippi State, Gibbs played under head coach Brent Heavener at Jackson Prep High School where he broke the single-season strikeout record by striking out 122 batters in just 67 innings. Along with being Jackson Prep’s all-time strikeout leader, he has the lowest career ERA in school history with a 1.13 over 136 innings. The right-hander had a 20-3 record on the mound making him a dominant force. Gibbs was given a 9.5 Perfect Game Grade which means he has the potential to be a Top-Ten Round MLB Draft Pick and an elite-level college prospect. Will has appeared in six games early in his Freshman season striking out 10 batters in 5.0 innings. The Gulls are excited to see how Gibbs develops at the collegiate level.
Aaron Downs is a 6’0” 210-pound Sophomore INF/OF at Mississippi State. Downs, originally from Pella, Iowa appeared in 18 games in 2022 as a Freshman. In 34 at-bats he recorded seven hits, three of which were doubles. Aaron has had a quality start to his Sophomore season recording a .417 batting average over the first 11 games he has appeared in this year. Prior to Mississippi State, Aaron was ranked by Perfect Games as the no. 1 third baseman and the no. 3 overall player in Mississippi. Heritage Academy High School coach, Chris Ball described Downs as a “five-tool player” who has extreme power, top-notch speed, and a strong arm (The Dispatch). The Gulls will continue to watch Downs compete at Mississippi State and will use his five-tools this summer at Cardines Field.
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The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation’s top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the community of Newport County via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are six-time champions of the NECBL – the winningest franchise in league history – and were
ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.
For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls,follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com.
