NEW BEDFORD - It was a tale of two grand slams in Tuesday’s first game of an unconventional doubleheader, with New Bedford’s Ryan Markey (St. John’s) clearing the bases in the sixth inning in the Bay Sox’ 10-8 win over the Newport Gulls.

The game originally began last Wednesday in Newport, with heavy fog halting the contest at Cardines Field in the bottom of the third inning.  The Gulls had just plated five runs in that third inning, which was capped by a grand slam by Zach Hoguelsson to give Newport a 6-5 lead.

The Southern Division foes resumed the game in New Bedford on Tuesday afternoon, and the offensive firepower continued at Paul Walsh Field.  Markey’s homer erased a two-run deficit, and the Bay Sox pitching staff held on for a tight victory that put New Bedford (7-5) back in first place in an extremely tight race.

Serafino Brito (Rutgers) pitched innings four through seven for New Bedford, allowing two runs – one via an absolute blast to center field by Hoguelsson in the seventh – with eight strikeouts and no walks in his first victory of the season.  C.J. Dandeneau (UConn) worked around a one-out base runner in the ninth to pick up his second save and end Newport’s three-game winning streak.

Pinch-hitter Chandler Debrosse (Central Connecticut State) doubled in the ninth to drive in Tommy Seidl (Harvard), which gave the Bay Sox an insurance run.  Debrosse, a three-year veteran of the Bay Sox, entered the ninth hitting just .160 but was able to bloop a double over the head of first baseman Zach Britton for New Bedford’s 10th run.  It was the second time in less than a week that New Bedford hit double digits for runs scored after their 11-3 victory over Winnipesaukee last Friday.

Both squads put up a five-spot in the third inning last Wednesday before the heavy fog rolled in.  With the score 1-0 in Newport’s favor, Christian Aybar (New England College) homered to tie it up, and both Robert Emery (San Francisco) and Seidl picked up RBI doubles in the five-run third.

The Gulls quickly responded, as all five batters that came up before the suspension came home, with Hoguelsson’s granny ending up as the last at-bat in Newport. 

The Gulls added to their lead in the fourth on a double, an error, and a groundout that made it 7-5.  Newport’s Holden Powell made his NECBL debut on the mound in the fourth and looked very impressive through the first two innings of his outing, but the wheels quickly fell off with two down in the sixth.  Andrew Rapoza (Barry) singled, Emery was hit by a pitch, and Austin Markmann (Sacred Heart) drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases before Markey’s blast cleared them and ultimately secured the win.

Hoguelsson’s second blast – he had one in Newport and one in New Bedford during the same game – cut the lead to 9-8, but Dandeneau and Debrosse secured the win, with some help from a dazzling defensive play by Markmann, who caught a foul ball against the fence between the New Bedford bullpen and clubhouse for the second out of the ninth inning.

In game two, the New Bedford Bay Sox surrendered one-run leads twice, ultimately dropping a 7-3 contest to the Newport Gulls in a seven-inning home matchup.

New Bedford took the first game 10-8 in dramatic fashion, which was started last Wednesday in Newport and concluded in a different ballpark but could not come up with the sweep on a beautiful summer evening.

Newport took the lead for good in the fifth inning, as Zach Britton and Jack Gethings each plated two Gulls with base hits. Jacob Yish (Boston College) was 2-for-3 with a run scored for New Bedford, while Yish, Elijah Brown (Sacred Heart) and Game 1 hero Ryan Markey (St. John’s) came across the plate in the loss.

The aggressiveness of the Bay Sox, which has been on display all season long, produced the first run of the abbreviated second game.  Brown led off the game by drawing a walk, his ninth free pass of the season, and continued to wreak havoc on the bases.  Brown swiped second base cleanly, then stole third and came home on an errant throw to third by Newport catcher Logan Harvey.  Brown entered the game tied for the team lead in steals with five, was second in on-base percentage (.412) and has reached base in every game that he has appeared in this season.

Newport’s Zach Hoguelsson, who had two homers in the first game of the two-city doubleheader earlier on Tuesday, launched a 1-2 fastball over the fence in right field off of Bay Sox starter Buddy Hayward (Harvard) to tie the game at 1-1.  The Gulls loaded the bases with two down in the second on three straight walks, but Hayward got out of the jam to strand all three ducks on the pond.

The Gulls took the lead in the fourth inning, as three consecutive batters reached base which ended Hayward’s evening.  Liam O’Regan drove in Harvey with a single, but reliever Noah Stern (Barry) was able to strand two runners in scoring position and prevent the road team to put a crooked number on the board. 

New Bedford took their second lead of the night thanks to two unearned runs.  Markey and Yish reached on a walk and a single, putting runners on the corners with no outs.  New pitcher Nic Enright was greeted by Rafe Chaumette (Trinity), who grounded to Gethings at second base. Gethings could not handle a short hop, and the ball squirted into right field, allowing both Bay Sox runners to score.

Newport continued the back-and-forth nature of the game, with the Gulls loading the bases with one down in the fifth on a single, a hit batter, and a walk.  Britton sent home two Gulls with a double to right field, giving Newport a 4-3 lead.  Michael Young (Stonehill) entered the game with runners at second and third and allowed a single with two outs from Gethings to plate two more runs and push Newport’s lead to 6-3.

Hoguelsson continued to abuse Bay Sox pitching with an RBI double in the sixth inning for his seventh RBI of the doubleheader.  The slugger from Arizona State entered the day with zero homers and four RBIs but amassed four hits and three long bombs – one that occurred at Cardines Field last Wednesday night – in the twin-billing.

The loss is New Bedford’s first in their three meetings with their closest rival in the NECBL and drops the Bay Sox to 7-6 on the season.  They have a busy week ahead, with games on Wednesday through Sunday.  The Bay Sox are on the road to face Mystic tomorrow, then have back-to-back home games against the Pilgrims and Mainers on Thursday and Friday at Paul Walsh Field.