Opening Day Rewind: 2014

A Look Back at Opening Day 2014 

NEWPORT, RI- The 2014 season began on June 5 with the first installment of the “Pell Bridge Series” at the Ocean State Waves’ Old Mountain Field in Wakefield, RI. Newport returned home the following night to take on the Sanford Mainers for the season’s home opener. 

The Gulls returned their coaching staff and six players from the 2013 Eastern Division Championship Team, poised to return to the NECBL Championship after falling to the Keene Swamp Bats in the previous season’s Championship Series. 2014 did not get off to the start that Newport wanted, falling to the Waves 6-3. Newport certainly had their chances, stranding 11 runners on base throughout the game. It wasn’t until the home opener and excitement of the hometown fans at Cardines Field that Newport was able to notch their first win of the year. Each season’s Home Opener is quite special and 2014 was no different.

2014 featured a newly restructured division alignment that found the Mainers now in the North and Gulls in the Southern Division. Joining the Gulls in the South was the Danbury Westerners, Ocean State Waves, New Bedford Bay Sox, Mystic Schooners, and Plymouth Pilgrims. There were 2,477 fans in attendance to see the Gulls for the first time that season. Newport fed off the energy, immediately taking a 1-0 lead after third baseman Reed Gamache crossed the plated on an RBI single by first baseman Tyler Green. Green struck again in the third inning, this time with an RBI double. Nick Zammarelli added another run with a sac fly to score Tanner Donnels putting the Gulls ahead 3-0 heading into the top of the fourth. In the Gulls' very next turn at the plate, it was Green and Zammarelli back at it again, each picking up RBI hits pushing the lead to 7-0. 

Newport got a quality start out of left-handed pitcher Jack Patterson. His start included a streak of seven consecutive batters retired and finished his first outing of the season allowing just three runs and striking out six over five innings. Patterson gave way to Mark McCoy, who was one of the six Gulls to return to Newport. McCoy completed 2.2 innings in relief, surrendering a single run on (charged to Patterson) one hit while striking out three hitters. The Gulls secured a few insurance runs in the eighth inning and Middletown, RI native Armand Rugel closed the door in the ninth, completing the 9-3 victory. 

2014 ended up being one of the most special years in Gulls history, culminating in the franchise’s sixth NECBL Championship- still the most of any team in the NECBL.