The Newport Gulls knocked off the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks on Friday, July 25 to pull into a tie for first place in the southern division with the Bristol Blues. The Gulls improved to 24-14 with the 8-2 home win.

Before the game, the Newport Gulls honored Jake Cathers, a Middletown resident battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Team president Chuck Paiva led the ceremony and announced donations from the Gulls, the Gulls boards of directors as well as the Sharks. During the game, Paiva
presented Cathers with a check for just under 60,000 dollars.

Newport and Vineyard played to a 1-1 stalemate through five innings. Leighton Harris (Kentucky) and Finbar O’Brien (Gonzaga) combined for four scoreless innings, with O’Brien striking out six in three innings, only allowing one hit. Sharks starter Ross Felder was solid in his own right, only giving up one run- a hard hit opposite  field single from Ryan Novak (Miami OH) in the bottom of the second.

While Newport broke open a tie game in the sixth, they were nearly playing from behind. Blake Julius (Oklahoma St.) relieved O’Brien and struggled, giving up the tying run and loading the bases. Marcel Kulik (Virginia Tech) entered a tie game with the bases loaded and danced out of the jam without any further damage. Kulik pitched another two innings and struck out three.

Newport’s bats exploded in their final three turns at the plate, putting up seven runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Novak added two more RBI’s to his total and Michael Gupton (Memphis) had two of his own. Novak was one of five Gulls with two hits, joining Matthew Bolton (Binghamton), Adam Agresti (St. Johns) - who also stole three bases, Randy Seymour (Michigan St.) and Kyle Branch (Oklahoma). Caden Connolly (Michigan) wrapped up the game for Newport, striking out two in two innings and giving up a run.