The Newport Gulls defeated the New Bedford Bay Sox 7-5 in a five-hour, 16-inning marathon on Thursday night at Paul Walsh Field.

The Gulls scored twice in the top of the 16th inning to take the lead for the third time, while their bullpen shut down the Bay Sox’ offense for the final nine innings in the lengthy victory.

New Bedford had their chances in extras, as T.J. Lake (West Virginia) was stranded at third base in the 12th inning, and the Bay Sox left the bases loaded in the 13th after a controversial strikeout on a full count to Jordan Fucci (Samford).

Relievers Jacob Lamb (Richmond) and William Chillari (Duke) were spectacular for New Bedford, as they combined for 6.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and just two hits allowed.  Zack Reid (UMass Dartmouth) was also very impressive in his first three innings of work, but suffered the loss on Newport’s two runs (one unearned) in the 16th.

Nearly five hours earlier, the Gulls scratched a run across the board in the top of the first inning without picking up a hit.  Leadoff man Drew Arciuolo walked then stole second base to place a Gull in scoring position with no outs.  He moved to third on a ground out to second, and scored on yet another ground ball to New Bedford’s Chandler Debrosse (Central Connecticut State).

Starting pitcher Jack Nelson (Boston College) got into some major trouble in the top of the third inning, as an error by first baseman Karsten Sherman (Keiser) snowballed into a huge inning for the visitors.  Arciuolo reached on a grounder that went under the glove of Sherman, and then stole his second base in three innings.  Kameron Misner walked, and with one down Andrew Daschbach hit an infield single which was knocked down by shortstop Corey Joyce (North Carolina Central) to save a run for the time being.  Cade Cabbiness cleared the bases with a three-run triple that eluded Fucci in left field, as the swirling winds wrecked havoc on outfielders all evening.

The game took a sour turn after the triple, as DH Liam O’Regan was struck in the back of the head by a pitch.  O’Regan laid on his back for several minutes before leaving the field under his own power.  The junior from nearby Middletown, RI was also hit by a pitch in the second inning, and left the game after the scary HBP in the third.

The Bay Sox squandered a golden opportunity to cut into their deficit in the bottom of the third, as they loaded the bases on a hit batter, a walk, and a one-out single from Luke Bakula (Kansas), who entered tonight’s contest ranked second in the NECBL in batting average (.471). Gulls’ starter Jack Patterson escaped the jam by striking out Nick Matera (Rutgers) and getting Sherman to ground out to short.

New Bedford’s potent offense, which ranks second in the league in average, finally strung some hits together and drove Patterson out of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.  Dante Baldelli led off with a double, and he scored on a triple by Debrosse that twisted in the wind at Paul Walsh Field.  Joyce reached on an error by second baseman Michael Webb which plated Debrosse with the second run.  Bakula singled for his second hit of the night, which ended the night for the Gulls’ starter.  Cole O’Connor entered in relief, and was prompted greeted by back-to-back RBI singles on the first pitches they saw by Matera and Sherman to tie the game at 4-4.  Matera tried to score after the second Gulls’ error of the inning two batters later, but was gunned down at the plate by shortstop Kevin Heiss.

Nelson regained his composure after striking O’Regan, as he retired the final five batters he faced before being replaced by James Taubl (Sacred Heart).  Taubl threw a scoreless fifth, but ran into some trouble with one down in the sixth, as his defense behind him committed consecutive errors.  Lamb entered with runners on second and third, and the Gulls regained the lead on an RBI groundout by Misner.

The Bay Sox tied it up again in the bottom of the seventh inning.  With two outs, Kevin Brophy (West Virginia) walked and moved to third on a ringing double to center field by Fucci.  Brophy scored on a wild pitch by Newport reliever Samuel Lanier.

The Gulls had a chance to take the lead for the third time, as they had a runner on second with one down, but Debrosse made two outstanding defensive plays to keep the score tied at 5-5.  The former New Bedford Whaler laid out to stab a liner from the bat of Arciuolo which would have scored Webb from third.

Prior to the two scoring threats in the 12th and 13th, New Bedford was dominated by a great debut outing from Newport’s Jack Little, who struck out seven batters in his three-inning relief appearance.

The Bay Sox will look to quickly move on from this difficult loss, as they will head to Danbury, CT to face the Westerners on Friday night.  Their next home game is Saturday night when they host the Valley Blue Sox at 6:30pm in New Bedford.

By Adam Belue

NOTE: Friday evening’s game in Danbury was postponed due to rain – rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on July 19.