Newport RI- The Newport Gulls won a battle of first place teams on the Fourth Of July, knocking off the North division leaders, the Keene SwampBats, 8-5. 

Before the game began, Kade Shatwell (Austin Peay St U) - who will be departing the team, was honored for his three years of spectacular service to the Gulls. The two time NECBL champion possessed a 2.07 ERA this season and a 3.24 mark in his summer career. 

Ethan Lund (Oklahoma St U) got the ball for the Gulls and struggled with command early, issuing walks to Jack Herring and Xavier Perez along with falling behind 3-1 to Ripken Reese, who popped out to Petey Craska (U Of North Alabama). Lund buckled down with men on first and second though, striking out Nicholas Romano and getting Ty Mainolfi to fly out.

Kyle Peters took the bump for Keene and immediately fell victim to an infield hit from AJ Evasco (Kansas State U), he bounced back by striking out Michael Gupton (Samford U) but then gave up a long single to Ryan Novak (Miami U), who ripped it down the right field line and advanced Evasco to third. Evasco was shaken up after sliding though, and left the game, being replaced by Matthew Bolton (Binghamton U).

With men on the corners and one out, Randy Seymour (Michigan St U) ripped a ball just over the left field fence for his third longball of the season, giving Newport a 3-0 lead. Peters didn’t help his cause, committing an error to let Will Fosberg (Northeastern U) reach base, but he struck out Craska to prevent additional damage.

Josh Castellani (Clemson U) couldn’t make a diving stop in the top of the second, allowing Ryan Jaros to reach first, Jaros reached third base on a Seymour throwing error which also put Zack Thompson on second. Lund settled in a tad, only allowing one run from the jam, which came from a Gabriel Pitts RBI groundout.

With the game at 3-1, both pitchers settled in and worked 1-2-3 innings. But in the bottom of the third, Gupton left earth with a long solo home run. After walking Novak, Peters sent Seymour down on strikes and induced a flyout, but Novak advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. Fosberg walked to bring up Craska, who pulled a couple of hard hit foul balls but eventually popped out to end the inning.

Keene mounted a counterattack in the top of the fourth, Mainolfi was the benefactor of a weird carom off the right centerfield wall and stretched a single to a double and he came home one pitch later on an RBI single which barely made its way past a diving Seymour. An inning of luck for Keene continued when a routine grounder from Thompson bounced off the third base bag and past Castellani. They nearly caught another break when a grounder took a huge hop and almost went over the head of Randy Seymour, but the former NECBL all star made the play and turned two. Seymour, whose prints were already all over this game thanks to both his three run homer and throwing error, once again impacted the scoreboard for Keene, overrunning a ground ball and allowing Jaros to score. Lund’s day ended after that, three runs came in with him on the mound, but only one was earned. CJ Bott (UCLA) relieved him for his second appearance of the season.  Bott issued a three pitch strikeout and left the mound with the lead intact.

Newport had a golden opportunity to pad their one run lead in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded, Novak and Shane Williams (Salve Regina U) walked and Gupton continued his solid day by ripping  a single, but Keene third baseman Romano made a killer play and throw to retire Seymour and end the threat.

The SwampBats immediately made Newport pay, Xavier Perez left Earth with a long solo home run to left field, left fielder Novak could only watch as Keene completed their comeback, turning a 4-1 deficit into a tie game.

Perez impacted the game defensively in the bottom of the fifth, making a jumping catch on a screaming line drive to rob Castellani of extra bases, Craska was stranded at first after a hard single into right field and the game moved into its latter half tied 4-4.

As a flock of Seagulls made their presence known in the outfield, Keene gained their first lead of the night. The two out rally started with singles from Pitts and Marshall Lipsey, then Herring played hero, ripping a ball over the seagulls and the outfielders to bring home Lipsey, a relay throw from Seymour gunned down Pitts at home. While an incensed Keene bench and coaching staff argued that Pitts got under the tag, the call stood and sent Newport to the home half of the sixth only trailing by one.

 Despite Bolton maintaining his streak of getting on base every game this season with a single in the bottom of the sixth, new pitcher Jayden Barroquiero sandwiched that base hit between three strikeouts. 

Seymour continued his spectacular night at the plate by leading off the bottom of the seventh with a long double, barely missing a home run, he moved to third on an error by Mainfoli which also allowed Castellani to reach base. Fosberg brought Seymour home on a groundout, tying the game and moving Castellani to second with one out. Craska worked a full count and hit a soft grounder off the glove of Barroqueiro, taking first base and moving Castellani to third. The Gulls dugout erupted as the play was ruled a hit, and Keene’s pitching coach left his dugout to have a chat with his infield. But the leaky defense continued, Reese bobbled a grounder from Kyle Branch (U Of Oklahoma) into the outfield, turning a possible double play into the moment Newport regained the lead. Barroqueiro was pulled, striking out three and allowing an earned run over 1.1 innings.