OAK BLUFFS, MA. - The Newport Gulls had everything clicking going into their penultimate game of the regular season, a road test on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. The Gulls had outscored the Sharks 27-4 in three straight wins vs. the Vineyard leading up to the game, and it was the pitching staff that turned it up a notch for the Gulls.

The Gulls entered Tuesday night’s contest 7-0 after the all-star break, averaging over 10 hits per game, and Newport immediately jumped on Sharks starting pitcher Aidan Dowd. Matt Bolton (Binghamton) and Michael Gupton (Memphis) both singled to threaten the righty arm. Dowd was able to settle in and get a big strikeout from Colby Wallace (East Carolina). Adam Agresti (St. John’s) flew out to center and moved Bolton over to third with two away, but Randy Seymour (Michigan State) was caught looking for a strikeout as Dowd miraculously worked out of the first.

Newport sent out Tristan Bristow (Vanderbilt) for his fourth start of the summer, looking to build on an impressive relief performance on Saturday, July 26th, vs. Bristol. After walking the leadoff man, Bristow retired the next three hitters, capping the first inning off with a strikeout of William Lybrook.

The next two innings would see Newport’s bats get silent. In the second, Kyle Branch (Oklahoma) lined out, Matt Ossenfort (Michigan) and Will Fosberg (Northeastern) both grounded out to the middle infield. In the home half of the second, Bristow matched Dowd, facing the minimum with two punchouts.

Two groundouts to second baseman Harley Goodner started the third for Newport offensively, and a Gupton swinging strikeout capped off a great two-inning stretch from Dowd. After a lineout by Kyle Cincinnati in the bottom of the third, Bristow surrendered his first hit, a single off the bat of Cole Mascolo. However, Fosberg would catch Mascolo down at second, trying to swipe a bag, which cleared the paths. A two-out walk administered to Carter Bentley would not harm Bristow as he would get Landon Scilley to fly out on one pitch to Bolton in right to keep things scoreless.

Dowd went back out for a fourth inning of work, but not for long. Colby Wallace ripped a leadoff single, and Agresti was plunked to put two runners on. Payton Fuller had seen enough and called on the lefty Ryan Ashford to clean up the mess that Dowd left. Ashford impressed, striking out the side, which included Seymour, Branch, and Ossenfort, all failing to score Newport’s first run. Bristow looked for a clean fourth after two quick outs, but a Blake Binderup single sparked a Shark rally. The Commodore struggled with command against his next two batters and allowed back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs. Bristow would settle in and induce a groundball to Seymour at short, who sidearmed to Branch at second to end the inning with no one plating for Vineyard.

Will Fosberg led the fifth off with a single, but in Ryan Ashford fashion, good command paired with a steady dose of sweepers brushed Newport’s hopes away, punching out Ryan Novak (MiamiOH), Bolton, and Gupton. Southpaw Cade Connolly (Michigan) relieved Bristow in the home half of the fifth and proved to be dominant. Outside of a one-out walk to Bentley – Bentley’s third of the day – Connolly needed six pitches to register three outs thanks to a flyout, popout, and strikeout.

Although effective through two innings, the dominant Ashford was replaced by Peter Dubie, who towed party lines. Not only did Dubie keep the meat of Newport’s order silent, but he struck out the side. As the Nepwort bats began to falter in the sixth inning, Connolly got similar success utilizing two punchouts to work through his second and final inning of work vs. the Sharks.

In the seventh inning of the scoreless ballgame, Morgan Davis took the ball from Dubie and immediately walked Kyle Branch after almost hitting the Newport infielder twice. The leadoff walk snapped a streak of six-straight punchouts for Newport’s offense, and they would turn a significant page in the seventh. Ossenfort grounded out to third, but moved Branch into scoring position. There was a case to be made by Ossenfort as the Evan Appelwick toss across the diamond to Binderup was mismanaged and dropped after it initially looked like the first baseman made the grab. After an umpire meeting, the call would stand and favor the Sharks, who got their first out. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Branch stole third, but a bad throw from Cincinnati behind the dish got into left field and Branch emphatically crossed home to break the scoreless affair. Will Fosberg’s at-bat ended in a walk, and after two misses to Novak, Fuller and the Sharks changed arms in the middle of the at-bat.

Colby McNeely took the hill with one on and one away in a one-run game. McNeely would not be able to catch up with Novak, whose 2-0 lead in the count was too challenging to overcome for the all-star reliever. Bolton hit his second single of the day to load the bases for Newport. The Gulls tacked on another run after Gupton walked to score a run and keep the bases juiced. Then, during Colby Wallace’s at-bat, a wild pitch scored Novak and moved runners to second and third. Wallace then flew out to left to score Bolton, giving the Gulls a 4-0 lead. After an Agresti walk, Randy Seymour flew out to right to end the long inning.

Connolly’s day was done and gave way to Marcel Kulik (Virginia Tech), who made his fourth appearance against the Sharks franchise this season. Kulik administered a leadoff walk to Kyle Cincinnati before getting a Mascolo pop out, a Bentley strikeout, and a Scilley flyout to get out of the inning. 

Left-handed hurler Warner Gearhart came in for the Sharks in the eighth and faced the minimum, getting through Branch, Ossenfort, and Fosberg. Yet again, a Gulls pitcher matched the effectiveness, this time Kulik getting the three-hole hitter Evan Appelwick to fly out before punching out Lybrook and Binderup.

Cole Taylor entered as the seventh and final pitcher for the Sharks in the top of the ninth and faced some trouble after a one-out walk to Matt Bolton and a two-out error by Evan Appelwick saw Bolton in scoring position with Colby Wallace trailing. Adam Agresti worked a full count before watching strike three on the outer third, but the Gulls still led 4-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Instead of riding with Kulik, Manager Coombs went to the newly added Zach Taylor (Endicott) to close the game out. Taylor impressed in his first outing on Monday, July 28th, in game two vs. Danbury, facing the minimum and looking to be on a similar track after his first pitch was lofted to Matt Bolton right for out one. Taylor saw his first trouble of the summer hitting back-to-back Sharks, and it seemed the moment may be slipping away from the rising sophomore. However, a mound visit by Kevin Smith seemed to be the right medicine as Taylor induced a groundout to Ossenfort at first, before getting leadoff man Carter Bentley to strike out swinging.

Newport’s 4-0 win marks an eighth win following the all-star break and the first time all season that an opposing staff had shut out Vineyard. Newport officially takes the regular season series victory, winning four games and only losing two to the Sharks. 

The Gulls have now boosted their record to an impressive 29-14. Newport hosts the Mystic Schooners for one final regular season contest on Wednesday, July 30th. Mystic will be playing its second game of the day as it will host Martha’s Vineyard at 1:00 p.m. to finish a paused game before making the trip over to Aquidneck Island. A win for the Gulls will get Newport their 7th 30-win season and first for Coombs since 2013. First pitch for Wednesday’s game is 6:35 p.m. and will be streaming on ESPN+.