Baseball / Sox stage impressive comeback versus Newport

Sox stage impressive comeback versus Newport

Date:  Source: New Bedford Bay Sox

By: Adam Belue 

The New Bedford Bay Sox kicked off their 10th season in the NECBL with a dramatic 5-4 comeback victory over the Newport Gulls on Tuesday night at Paul Walsh Field.

Austin Markmann (Sacred Heart) guided the offense from the ninth spot in the Bay Sox order, going 3-for-3 with the tying RBI and the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh inning, while relievers Sam Henrie (Southern New Hampshire) and Michael Young (Stonehill) combined for seven strikeouts in the last three innings to give New Bedford the win on Opening Night.

Henrie was dominant to pick up the victory, striking out five batters in a hitless 2.1 inning outing.  Young came in with one out in the ninth, and after allowing a single, struck out the last two batters he faced to secure the victory and pick up his first save.

Pitching for the Bay Sox was stellar throughout the night, with starter Jared Shuster (Wake Forest) whiffing ten Gulls in just 4.2 innings.  Newport forced Shuster to work hard for his K’s, as the Demon Deacon needed 94 pitches to get into the fifth, with Newport scoring twice in the fifth to take a 3-0 lead midway through the contest.

New Bedford began their comeback bid in the bottom of the fifth, with Markmann driving in Harvard’s Buddy Hayward with an RBI single for the Bay Sox’ first run.  Elijah Brown (Sacred Heart) and Logan Allen (Bridgeport) struck consecutive sac flies to right field to tie the game at 3-3.

After Newport slugger Kody Hoese launched his second home run of the night in the sixth inning off of reliever Noah Stern (Barry), the Sox rallied yet again, with Henrie leading the way on the hill.  The sophomore entered the contest with two on and no outs in the seventh but struck out the side to strand both runners and energize his offense.

Bay Sox returnee Nick Matera (Rutgers) led off the bottom of the inning with a double, which was the only extra-base hit for the home squad on the night.  Markmann plated Matera with a one-out single and was joined on the bases by Brown, who also singled to put runners on the corners.  On the next pitch, Brown swiped second base, and after an offline throw from catcher Logan Harvey, Markmann came home with the eventual game-winning run.

New Bedford will seek a winning streak to begin their 2018 campaign when they travel to Ocean State to face the Waves on Thursday evening.  They will take a lengthy trip to Vermont on Friday evening for their first outing against the Mountaineers, then return to Paul Walsh Field for weekend battles with the Plymouth Pilgrims on Saturday evening and the Keene Swamp Bats on Sunday.  All games this week begin at 6:30 pm.