Newport Moves on to Round Two!
The Newport Gulls hosted the Mystic Schooners for game three of the Southern Division quarterfinals at Cardines Field in a winner take all showdown. Both teams were fighting to keep their season alive and move on in the playoffs. Caden Connolly (Michigan) got the start for Newport and Tristan Aasland got the start for Mystic.
The Newport Gulls struck first in this game as they took a 1 run lead in the first inning to get the game rolling.
Then, the Schooners took back the lead in the next few innings as they capitalized off of a few errors and mistakes by the Gulls defense and then Mystic hit a home run to extend their lead to 3 runs at the halfway mark of this game.
These runs did not put the brakes on for Newport as they came their way back and made this a brand new ball game in the next few innings. The Gulls got a few runners on and Adam Agresti (St Johns) got the momentum going for Newport with a huge 2 RBI double which brought this game closer and closed Mystics lead to one run. Later that inning the Gulls tied the ball game up with an infield single by Andreaus Lewis (Manhattan) which brought home Agresti and made it a tie game.
Newport pitching staff, that included John Downing (Seton Hall) and Leighton Harris (Kentucky), shut down this Mystic offense after the home run and it was all Gulls to finish off the game.
The Gulls got the winning run in the 7th inning off of a wild pitch by Mystic which gave Newport the 1 run lead going into the final few innings.
Leighton Harris was pure domination on the mound tonight for the Gulls as he came in and shut down Schooner batters one by one. After not pitching for a week and dealing with a small injury, Harris battled through and gave Newport exactly what they needed to close this game off, take the series win, and move on to the semi finals.
With the save by Harris, and the comeback by the Gulls offense the Newport Gulls took down the Mystic Schooners in three games to move on and face the Martha's Vineyard Sharks for a spot in the NECBL championship and to continue the Gulls three peat quest. The first game between the Gulls and Sharks will be played at Cardines Field on Monday, August 4th at 6:35 pm and broadcast on ESPN+.
