Gulls Break it Open Early on Opening Night, Win 9-0

On a night which the Newport Gulls raised the championship banner from their successful 2014 campaign, this year’s iteration of the ball club opened the home season with a bang. The Gulls (2-0) dominated the Mystic Schooners (0-1) Friday night, winning by a score of 9-0.

The Gulls jumped out to an early lead, putting up four runs in the second inning on five hits and two huge errors by the Schooners. The biggest play of the inning came when Mystic centerfielder C.J. Moore mishandled a single by Kevin Baker, allowing Baker to reach third base.

Meanwhile, Gulls starting pitcher Hunter Schryver was dealing. The southpaw from Villanova stymied the Schooners over six shutout innings, only allowing two hits and striking out six.

Manager Mike Coombs said that the main thing that Schryver did to make him successful was keeping Mystic’s hitters guessing.

“(He was) keeping people off balance and mixing up his pitches,” Coombs said. “His pitch count was 67 through six innings, so he threw the ball well.”

The Gulls struck again in the fourth inning thanks to another error, this time by third baseman John Brucker. The error allowed Kevin Baker to reach base and eventually score on a two-out base hit by Reed Gamache.

After another run in the fifth, the Gulls broke the game open in the sixth inning on a three-run home run over the right field wall by Jeremy Wolf for the first round tripper hit at Cardines Field in 2015. The home run extended Newport’s lead to 9-0, which would end up being the final score.

Only four of Newport’s runs were earned due to five Schooner errors, as opposed to a near perfect fielding night for the Gulls. Other than an error by Gamache at second base to put the second batter of the game on base, the Gulls made every play that was thrown at them to keep Mystic at bay.

Newport has scored 17 runs over the first two games of the season and Coombs said that swinging early in counts has been a contributing factor as to why.

“They didn’t let anything by them,” Coombs said. “They were jumping on the first pitch, they’d run some counts when the first pitch wasn’t in there, but they did a good job swinging it.”

Coombs said that Newport needs to stay hot to make it a three-game win streak to start the year, but it’s no sure thing.

“You try to, but you never know,” Coombs said. “This is a crazy game, so you try to keep the bats hot and get to next game and go up there and have a good game.”

Newport’s next game will be Saturday night in New Bedford against the 2-0 Bay Sox. Robert Masse and Tom Porter will have the call on the NECBL Broadcast Network.

For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com.