Mystic Schooners vs. Danbury Westerners

Final Score: Danbury 12, Mystic 8

Mystic, CT – The Danbury Westerners defeated the Mystic Schooners in a high-scoring 12-8 game on Sunday afternoon. After trailing early, the Schooners fought back to tie it, but a late offensive surge gave the Westerners enough to take down Mystic and win their sixth game in a row.

Walks from Jack Lutte (Denison) and Peter Link (Sacred Heart) set the table for Aidan Paradine (Siena College), who promptly delivered for Danbury. Paradine singled to right, scoring Lutte from second. An error by the right fielder allowed Link to score on the play as well and gave the Westerners a 2-0 advantage.

The Schooners responded with a run in the bottom half of the first off the baserunning of AJ Aschettino (Northeastern), who walked, stole second, and advanced on two wild pitches to score. In the top of the second, Danbury put up four runs on RBI hits from Michael Iannazzo (Maryland), Link, and Paradine, who all hit singles to score those runners.

Trailing 6-1, Mystic began to slowly chip away at the lead, scoring a run in both the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Joel Collado (Rhode Island) drove in Jake Kernodle (Princeton) on an RBI double, and in the fifth, Eric Cha’s (Northeastern) single allowed Maddix Dalena (UConn) to plate a run. In the seventh, an RBI single from David Mendez (Maryland) was the start of a three-run inning, with Kernodle responsible for driving in two more runs from a single. 

Suddenly, the Schooners had come back to tie it at 6-6, but that’s not where the scoring ended. An Aidan Stern (Trinity) RBI triple gave Danbury the lead in the eighth. Stern scored on a single from Lutte to make it 8-6. In the ninth, a walk, a single, and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for the Westerners and just kept the train moving. Teddy Cashman (Lafayette) singled to score one, then Kyle Garbowski (Quinnipiac) singled to score two. Stern got the last run across via an RBI groundout to make it 12-6.

Despite scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning off Luke Holland’s (North Carolina Greensboro) two-RBI single, the Westerners’ advantage held for a 12-8 win. Teo Spadaccini (Yale) was given the win for Danbury, as he tossed two innings of two-run ball. On the other side, Reese Crochet (George Washington) got the loss for Mystic, allowing two runs in less than an inning of work. The red-hot Westerners will host the Newport Gulls Monday afternoon, while the Schooners wait till Tuesday to host the Valley Blue Sox.

Box Score

Newport Gulls vs. Ocean State Waves 

Final Score: Newport 9, Ocean State 1

South Kingston, RI- The Waves hosted the Gulls for the Pell Bridge Series, with the Gulls taking the win in the cross-state rivalry for the sixth straight season. Adam Agresti (St John's) built the momentum for Newport right away, hitting an RBI double to drive in the first run of the game and put the Gulls up 1-0. Kyle Branch (Oklahoma) followed up by knocking in another run to double the Newport lead at 2-0 in the top of the first. 

In the top of the second inning, Petey Craska (North Alabama) would hit a moonshot, watching it fly before rounding the bases to put the Gulls up 3-0. The momentum Agresti built would not stop, as in the next inning, Randy Seymour (Michigan State) would drive in a run on a single, which was followed by Petey Craska (North Alabama) scoring on a wild pitch during the next inning to put Newport up 5-0. 

Scoring would stop for only one inning, and pick right back up in the top of the sixth. Ryan Novak (Miami Ohio) hit a two-run blast way over the fence to increase the lead to 7-0, and Mike Gupton (Memphis) kept the electricity alive when he lined another two-run homer just over the wall to make the score 9-0 Gulls. 

Ocean State would score its lone run on a Ryan King (Rhode Island) single, where he drove in Kayle Pisano (Oregon) on a single to put the Waves on the board, down 9-1. That would be all they could muster, as Newport would take the win to keep their top spot in the South Division at 26-14. Casen Murphy (Louisville) shined on the mound for the Gulls, racking up seven of the team’s ten strikeouts. 

You can view the box score here

Bristol Blues vs. Valley Blue Sox

Final Score: Bristol 4, Valley 3

Holyoke, MA – The Blue Sox hosted the Blues for a very blue matchup-not emotionally. Bristol got on the board first in the top of the second inning when Trevor Hansen (Manhattan) drove in two runs on a double, quickly putting the Blues up 2-0. Valley would fire right back in the bottom of the fourth when John LaFleur (Holy Cross) knocked in a run with an RBI double, which was soon followed by a Tim Ford (Fordham) sac fly to tie up the game at two apiece. Hayden Perry (Samford) would then hit a clutch RBI single, driving in LaFleur to give the Blue Sox the lead at 3-2. 

Bristol responded right away in the top of the fifth when Gianno Merlonghi (Central Conn) hit a game-tying RBI single to make the score 3-3. Merlonghi’s clutch efforts wouldn’t be enough, as the very next inning featured a Michael Elko (Richmond) solo home run that put Valley up 4-3, which would be all they’d need as the Blue Sox would win the ballgame. 

Max McCrary (Mt St Mary’s) and Andrew Wertz (Salve Regina) did their job for Valley, allowing nobody to cross the plate and combining for three strikeouts in the last three innings of the game. The Blue Sox improve to 19-21, while Bristol sits at 25-17, two games behind the Gulls. 

You can view the box score here

The New England Collegiate Baseball League is a wooden bat college summer league that fields teams in all six New England states. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the New England League started play in 1994 and has sent over 230 alumni to the Major Leagues with nearly 30 alumni taken in the first round of the MLB Draft. For continuing coverage of the NECBL, visit NECBL.com and follow the league on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook.