Gulls Lose third Straight after Pitching Miscues

The Newport Gulls suffered their third straight loss on Monday night at the hands of division foe New Bedford by a final score of 11-5 at Cardines Field in Newport. Jonathon Tripp (0-2, 3.68 ERA) took the loss for the Gulls, pitching five complete innings allowing nine hits and five runs while walking one and striking out four. Pitching miscues from Newport proved to be the deciding factor in this contest, with the Flock’s hurlers allowing a combined16 hits. 

Conor Biggio smacked a lead-off single on a 3-2 pitch to right center field to get things started in the top of the first. Michael Gilbert would advance Biggio into scoring position with a double to the exact same spot in center, putting runners at second and third with one away. Cullen O’Dwyer, batting out of the clean-up spot, picked up the first RBI of the game for New Bedford on a ground out to first to put the Bay Sox ahead early, 1-0.

Joey Cecere picked up the second lead-off hit of the game for the Bay Sox in the top of the second with a double to center on a 2-1 pitch from Tripp. Ensuing batter Christopher Travers pushed Cecere to third on a sac bunt, threatening yet again. Devin Perry would seize the opportunity to put New Bedford further ahead with a wall-ball, one-out double to left to extend the Bay Sox lead to three. 

Gulls veteran outfielder Ben Roberts blasted a lead-off home run in the bottom of the second to break out of a slump and put the Flock on the board, and cut New Bedford’s lead to just two.

On the tail of Roberts’ solo shot, Jose Vizcaino Jr. picked up a lead-off, opposite-field single in the bottom of the third, putting ducks on the pond for 2014 NECBL Home Run Derby Champion Blaise Salter. Salter smacked a 1-2 pitch from Superko high off the right-field wall to put men on second and third with no outs. Commodore Tyler Green would add in an infield single following a third baseline bunt from Ryan Tufts to load the bases for Colby Wright; Wright hit a pitch back to the pitcher for the force second out at home. Superko would work out of the jam, forcing Will Smith to line out to right to retire the side. 

Tommy Edman mounted the rally for Newport in the bottom of the fourth with a fielder’s choice, putting a man on first. Stealing his team-high seventh base of the season, Edman put himself in scoring position for Vizcaino Jr., who hit his fourth double of the season off the right-center field wall to bring Edman home from second and knot things up at three apiece. Loss of the lead would bring in relief for Superko in the form of left-handed pitcher Scott Tully. Salter hit a weak worm burner back to the pitcher for an easy force tag out at home on Vizcaino Jr. Green flied out deep to left to retire the side and end the threat. 

Walker Moses hit a one-out bloop single over the head of Tufts at third, setting up an offensive retaliation for New Bedford in the top of the fifth. Gilbert ripped a ground-rule double in the left-field bullpen to put men on second and third with one down for designated hitter O’Dwyer. Sun Devil O’Dwyer dropped a hit in front of Roberts in right to bring home Moses and reclaim the lead, bringing their run total to four. Tripp, working deep in his pitch count, would walk Gilbert and hit Dwyer on the back to bring home the fifth run of the contest for the Bay Sox.

Eric Stone came on in relief of Tripp in the top of the sixth inning. Stone dealt a lead-off walk to Perry who then stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Moses picked up his second hit of the night on a breaking ball from Stone – a double to dead center – to score Perry and extend the Bay Sox lead back to three. Stone walked O’Dwyer after battling to a full count, but Lorenzo Papa roped a pitch to Lyons in the ensuing at-bat for the out that retired the side.

After a quiet seventh, Stone started to run out of gas in the top of the eighth allowing Moses to single and Gilbert to work a one-out walk. Southpaw Mark McCoy took the rock from Stone thereafter, retiring O’Dwyer and Papa in order for the final two outs of the inning. 

After back-to-back walks to Wright and Smith in the top of the eighth, New Bedford pitching coach Kyle Fernandes pulled Tully and put Jeremy Perron on the mound, who walked two and allowed a sac bunt to Lyons and a wall-ball double to Edman. With the Bay Sox lead cut to two, Fernandes went to his bullpen again to bring in Dan Wertz. Vizcaino Jr. pushed Smith home from third with a fielder’s choice for the second out, cutting the Bay Sox lead to just one, the score now 6-5 New Bedford.

Joshua Smith looked to threaten the Gulls’ rally with a lead-off double roped down the right field line, and then slid into third on a wild pitch from McCoy to put a man on third with nobody out for the Bay Sox. McCoy would strike out Cercere, but that would be it for the Wake Forest southpaw, as 2014 NECBL All-Star Armand Rugel came on in relief for Newport. A bloop hit to shallow center from Travers put the Bay Sox ahead 7-5, followed by a double to deep right from Perry to push New Bedford’s lead back to three. Pitching woes continued for Rugel, who fell at the hands of a dead-center, one-out drive from Moses, who drove in his third RBI of the night. O’Dwyer batted in his third RBI of the night with a two-out double high and deep off the center field wall to push New Bedford ahead 11-5. Papa would strike out swinging to finally retire the side for New Bedford and end their five-run ninth-inning onslaught. 

Tully picked up the win for New Bedford, pitching 3 2/3 innings, walking one and striking out four. From the fifth to the seventh inning, he retired seven batters in a row out of the Bay Sox bullpen. With the loss, the Newport Gulls fall to 17-13, while the New Bedford Bay Sox improve to 8-25.

Mick Van Vossen (3-0, 2.65 ERA) will take the hill tomorrow for the Gulls as they take on Pell Bridge Series rival Ocean State in a contest at Old Mountain Field. Southpaw Steve Moyers (1-1, 3.00 ERA) will get the start for the second-place Waves, his first pitch at 6:05 p.m. 

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