Serafino Brito (Rutgers) landed on the NECBL Week 3 Honor Roll after a stellar “relief” performance last Tuesday against Newport.  The senior from Oakland, NJ took the hill in New Bedford to restart the suspended contest between the Bay Sox and Gulls that began on June 13th in Newport.  With the now-visiting Gulls leading 6-5 when play resumed in the bottom of the third inning, Brito shut down the potent Newport offense who had just scored 23 runs the night before in Danbury, allowing just one earned run on four hits, with zero walks and nine strikeouts in six innings.  Brito earned his first win of the year in New Bedford’s dramatic 10-8 comeback victory, and now has 22 Ks in just 16.1 innings of work in his second year with the Bay Sox.

Brito joins teammates Jared Shuster (Wake Forest) and Austin Markmann (Sacred Heart) as Honor Roll members, as both Bay Sox earned praise for their outstanding performances in Week 1.

The Bay Sox ended the week (June 18-24) with a 3-2 record, as their final two games of the week were postponed due to inclement weather.  As of June 26th, New Bedford is one of five teams in the Southern Division within one game of first place, with their 9-7 record putting them one game back of the 10-6 Gulls in the crowded division.  Six of their seven games this week are against Southern Division foes, which could ultimately determine the fate of the 2018 Bay Sox.

The Bay Sox are fourth in the NECBL with a .257 batting average entering Week 4, and are just one stolen base behind the Keene Swamp Bats for first in the 13-team league.  New Bedford is averaging just over five runs scored per game, but have just five home runs in their 16 contests, as they are utilizing plenty of small ball and been extremely aggressive on the bases all season long.  The Bay Sox have three of the top base stealers in the league, as Sacred Heart’s Elijah Brown (7 SB), San Francisco’s Jack Winkler (5 SB), and Central Connecticut State’s Chandler Debrosse (5 SB) have been particular menacing on the bases.

New Bedford is currently fifth in the league with a 3.97 ERA and has 141 Ks in 138.1 IP this season.  Shuster is currently tied for the league lead in strikeouts with 26, while Brito is just four Ks behind his summer teammate.  The Bay Sox have two of the top closers in the league, as C.J. Dandeneau (UConn) is 1-0 with three saves and has 14.4 strikeouts per nine innings, while Michael Young is also 1-0 with two saves and 14 K’s in 10.2 innings.  Young has one of the lowest ERAs in the league, allowing just one earned run for a 0.84 ERA, and he trails only Tyler Zell (Suffolk) on the Bay Sox, as Zell has not given up an earned run this season in 8.1 innings of relief.

By Adam Belue