NEWPORT FALLS TO MARTHA'S VINEYARD TO END WINLESS FIRST WEEK

Last season, Newport’s hopes of three-peating came to a close at the hands of the Martha's Vineyard Sharks. In just the third game of this season, the Gulls had a shot at redemption. With each team looking to capture its first win of the season, Newport headed out East.  Despite strong performances both pitching and at the plate, the Gulls came up short in a 5-3 loss to the Sharks.

Offense was a big question mark entering tonight's contest. Newport scored only two runs in the season opener and managed just one on Friday back at home. The Gulls’ bats were alive early in tonight’s contest. Three straight singles loaded the bases for Newport, and minutes later, Tristan Salinas (Rutgers) drove in the first run of the ballgame. The Sharks responded almost immediately in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded, Jackson Taylor roped a ball into the right-center field gap, knocking in two. Martha's Vineyard would add a third via a fielder's choice from Colin Gibbs, and Newport was once again playing from behind.

Following this strong offensive start on both sides the pitchers settled in. After surrendering a run in the first, the Sharks’ Sergine Sarre worked through three scoreless innings. For the Gulls, it was Jake Lenahan. The first arm out of the bullpen, he ate up five innings of work while racking up seven strikeouts.

Martha’s Vineyard was the first offense to strike again, when Jaylen Hernandez crushed the squad's first home run of the season. Trailing by three, Newport began to inch closer. Ryan Jaros singled in the top of the sixth, scoring one, and Maddox Haley took his turn doing so in the seventh, making it 4-3 in favor of Vineyard. The Sharks picked up insurance in the bottom of the seventh, getting the lead back up to two.

Heading into the ninth, the Gulls were down to their last three outs, trailing by two. Chris Klug (Navy) capped off his impressive day at the plate with his third single to get things started. With the tying run at the plate, the pressure began to build on Martha’s Vineyard’s Thomas Achey. But, facing the heart of the Gulls’ order the Sharks’ pitcher delivered, collecting three straight strikeouts to end the ballgame.

The Gulls outhit the Sharks 9-7 but were unable to create a multi-run inning. Now 0-2-1 on the season, Newport is still looking for its first win. The squad has an off day tomorrow, but is back at Cardines Field on Monday June 8th against the Bristol Blues. Coverage on ESPN+ begins at 6:30.

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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 via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are eight-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