BRISTOL, CT. - The match between the top two teams in the Southern Division was shaping up to be an all-timer. The Gulls were ready to employ ace Finbar O'Brien (Gonzaga) while the Blues wanted their pitching dominance to continue. It was evident from the start that Newport was at a disadvantage.

The Gulls' offense started the day with a leadoff walk by Matt Bolton (Binghamton), but three straight were retired after the free pass by Blues starter James Pazdera. O'Brien hit the hill in the bottom of the first and previewed what could be another gem, sitting down the first three hitters in order, striking out two going into the second.

Pazdera induced three weak pieces of contact in the second to face the minimum and end his short and scoreless outing. After a first pitch out for O'Brien, Dean O'Neill singled to right for the first hit of the day for either side. O'Neill moved to second on a bunt from Mika Peterson. Newport's starter was able to get a ground ball to Randy Seymour (Michigan State) at short, but a rare miscue by the veteran allowed a Nate Lincoln grounder to find grass in left and gave O'Neill plenty of time to plate Bristol's first run. Trevor Hansen would follow with a hit, before Joey DeMucci would ground out into a fielder's choice up the middle.

The third started with a well-hit ball by Matt Ossenfort (Michigan) that went 340 feet into left center, but it stayed in Muzzy Field and found the glove of right fielder C.J. Egrie. Adrian Areizaga (MiamiFL) and Matt Bolton showed little resistance to Ben Winslow as both went down via the punchout. The bottom of the third showed O'Brien's biggest struggle to this point in the summer. A flyout to Bolton in center was followed by four-straight base runners, two hits and two singles, with Dean O'Neill coming through yet again with a 2-run knock into right field to put Bristol up 3-0 after three.

The Gulls bats kept quiet after a Dre Lewis (Manhattan) walk with one out was followed by a shallow popout into foul territory down the right field line by Seymour, and a Ryan Novak (MiamiOH) strikeout looking. O'Brien went back out on the mound, and although Joey DeMucci ripped a one-out single and advanced to second on another sacrifice bunt, Finbar was able to punch out Luke Nomura to keep the Blues off the board in the fourth.

The fifth was quite similar for Newport's offense. A slow grounder by Colby Wallace (East Carolina) gave Bristol's third pitcher, Pedro Leon, his first out, before Will Fosberg (Northeastern) was grazed by an offering to provide Newport with their fourth baserunner. The production would end there as Ossenfort with a strikeout on three pitches, and Areizaga would ground out to second. Finbar went out for a fifth inning of work and tightened up after Jack Hopko ripped a leadoff single, his second base hit of the game. Two flyouts on four pitches followed the single, and O'Brien made a quick move over to first and picked off a sleeping Hopko to end his day.

Newport's hot bats from the 11-1 win over Vineyard the day prior had seemed to cool dramatically at Muzzy Field, and the sixth was a telltale sign. Newport brought the top of the order vs. the soft-throwing lefty in James Ellis, who carved up Newport's lineup in order, punching out Dre Lewis to end the inning. The sixth got worse for Newport as Tristan Bristow (Vanderbilt) got the ball from O'Brien and looked to keep Bristol in check. Bristow induced lots of weak contact but did not have much help from the fielders behind him. Not one, not two, but THREE Gulls miscues, plated a run for the Blues after Will Fosberg tried to backpick Nate Lincoln at third, but the throw deflected off Lincoln's back heading into the left field, adding on to their lead to make it a 4-0 ballgame. 

The Gulls' offense had to make a move soon, down four in the seventh. Not many moves were made. Ellis continued to get Newport hitters off balance and only needed to see four hitters to get through the seventh, only giving up a walk to Novak. Bristow made massive improvements in his outing, not only bouncing back after no fault of his own, but faced the minimum in the 7th, punching out a pesky O'Neill to get Newport off the field.

Carson Renner entered the game for Bristol and only needed eight pitches to retire Ossenfort, Areizaga, and Bolton, as Newport not only was scoreless, but hitless after the top of the eighth. Aidan O'Connell (Vanderbilt) relieved Bristow after solid work, and it was up to O'Connell to carry on from previous long relief outings, where he was marvelous in his last seven innings of work. The Blues did not waiver and jumped on O'Connell immediately. A Mika Peterson single and a Nate Lincoln walk put two on, and both moved into scoring position after Alex Irizzary bunted to Wallace at third and was thrown out at first. A wild pitch by O'Connell to Joey DeMucci scored Peterson, and a DeMucci fly ball was deep enough into right field to plate Lincoln. O'Connell got leadoff man C.J. Egrie to pop out to Seymour at short, but Newport now found themselves trailing by six going into the ninth.

Renner was tasked with keeping Newport silenced and potentially closing a combined no-hitter. Michael Gupton (Samford) made those hopes short-lived after he ripped the first pitch of the inning up the middle for a base hit, a ball that came off the bat at 108 miles per hour, the hardest hit ball by a Gull all year. Gupton moved over to third after DeMucci, behind the dish, allowed the speedy outfielder to steal with no contest. Two batters later, Randy Seymour would ground out and score Gupton with two outs in the ninth. Novak delayed the inevitable after a hit into left field, but Wallace was the last hitter for Newport after grounding into a fielder's choice to end the ballgame 6-1 in favor of the Blues.

Bristol's win pulls them one game behind Newport for the Southern Division lead as Newport falls to 19-9 and back to .500 on the road at 7-7. Newport will have to reset and be ready for the Valley Blue Sox, who will visit the Gulls on Aquidneck Island on Wednesday, July 9th. Luckily for Newport, they will get a chance to tie the season series vs. Bristol on Friday, July 11th, after a day off. Both games will start at 6:35 p.m. and will be streaming on ESPN+.