Three Straight Wins for Newport

The Newport Gulls notched their third straight win Wednesday, June 10, rolling past the Vermont Mountaineers 9–2. Newport improved to 3–2–1 while Vermont fell to 2–3. Mickey McClaskey provided three innings of relief with three strikeouts and two runs allowed to earn the win, but the story was Will Taylor’s dominant start — the southpaw went four innings, struck out eight, and allowed just three baserunners while attacking hitters with both his fastball and breaking pitches. David McSweeney closed with two efficient innings, permitting one baserunner and recording a strikeout. The Gulls leave Wednesday with the NECBL’s third-best team ERA and the league lead in staff strikeouts.

After a slow start to the year, Newport’s offense has come alive, scoring 25 of their 35 runs over the past two games and launching four of their five homers in that span. On Wednesday the scoring began in the bottom of the second: Ryan Jaros was hit by a pitch and Ryan Novak drew a full-count walk. Jaros moved to third on a fielder’s choice by Gus Gandy, and Gandy stole second, setting up Braxton Tramel’s first hit and first two RBIs of the season.

One inning later, with Cade Brown drawing a walk in his return to Cardines Field, Novak earned his eighth walk and Caeden Cloud singled to load the bases. Gandy then snapped an 0–15 skid with a grand slam that just cleared the right-center fence. The Gulls added a run in each of the next two innings; Devan Zirwas walked and eventually scored after an overthrow from Vermont catcher Sebastian Collender, extending Newport’s lead to 7–0. Vermont scored twice in the top of the fifth to cut the margin to five, but Adam Broski answered with an RBI single to left. The scoring finished when Gandy lined a single into left to plate Cloud for the third time, giving Gandy five RBIs on the night.

Next up for Newport is a trip to face the Mystic Schooners; first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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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