Newport, R.I.- The Newport Gulls hosted the Ocean State Waves on Wednesday, June 11th in the first of six matchups this summer in the annual Pell Bridge Series. Leighton Harris (Kentucky) got the ball for the Gulls and Corey Kling (South Florida) got the rock for the Waves in this matchup. 

The game started out with the Gulls getting one run right off the bat in the first inning and grabbing three hits but then it was a pitcher's duel for the next five innings as both teams dominated on defense. The pitchers' duel came to a close when Justin Hackett (Bryant) drove in 2 Waves runners to take a 2-1 lead in the 5th inning. 

Heading into the 6th inning, still a low scoring ball game and the defense and pitching taking control of the game, a few mistakes from the Waves led to runs for Newport. An error and a pitch clock violation by Josh McDevitt (Missouri) led to a game tying walk by Ryan Novak (Miami OH). 

That walk was a huge momentum swing for the Gulls as Matthew Bolton (Binghamton) smashed a grand slam to blow this game wide open in the bottom of the sixth and gave the Gulls a four run lead heading into the 7th inning. This swing of the bat by Bolton was the play of the game and gave the Gulls this big win over the Waves. 

In the 8th inning, the Gulls ran into some trouble as the Waves climbed back some on Newport scoring three runs and making it a tight game in the final third. Casen Murphy (Louisville) worked through the inning and got out of it with a two run lead heading into the 9th. 

To close out the game and get the save, the Gulls and Coach Mike Coombs brought in Marcel Kulik (Virginia Tech) to close the door and take home the victory for Newport. 

The Newport Gulls defeat the Ocean State Waves 7-5 to go to 4-3 on the year and the Waves fall to 2-4. The Gulls have the day off tomorrow, Thursday, June 12th and are back at Cardines Field on Friday, June 13th to take on the Valley Blue Sox for the second time this week. You can catch this game live at 6:35 p.m. on ESPN+.