Coming off the high of scoring 18 runs in a win over Mystic last night, the Muskrats were on the other side of a landslide victory for the Newport Gulls Saturday night.
A night after setting an offensive high mark, Laconia nearly gave that much up, as Newport defeated the Muskrats 15-3 at Robbie Mills Field.
Newport struck for four runs in the first inning on two home runs. Kasey Coffman (Arizona St) led off the game with a solo home run over the scoreboard in right field. Brett Winger (Michigan) wrapped up the early scoring with a three-run shot over the Muskrat Monster.
A Rob Ort (Indiana St) double and a wild pitch scored a fifth Newport run in the second inning. In the third, an Austin Slater (Stanford) RBI and another Kyle Mullen (St. Joseph’s) wild pitch made it 7-1 Newport.
The Gulls struck for six more runs in the fourth, breaking the game wide open. After a leadoff double, a groundout, a walk, and a hit batter, Newport got four consecutive run-scoring hits, the last of which ended the outing for Mullen.
It was an unusually rough pitching performance for Mullen, who entered the game among the top five in the league for strikeouts and earned run average. On this night, Mullen allowed 13 runs on 14 hits, two walks, two hit batters, and four wild pitches; all in just 3.1 innings.
Tyler Wilson (Spartanburg Methodist) stopped the bleeding in 3.2 innings of two-run relief. Wilson showed good control, striking out five Gulls. Nick Kevlin (Dominican) came on for the second-straight night, throwing up two scoreless frames.
Laconia did manage 12 hits offensively, ten coming off Gulls starter John Hochstatter (Stanford). He dodged trouble, lasting seven innings to pick up the win. He allowed Dylan Kelly (Middle Georgia) to score in the second on a wild pitch.
Vince Conde (Vanderbilt) was responsible for the other two Muskrats runs, smacking his fourth and fifth homers of the summer, both solo shots.
The game concluded Newport’s four trips to Laconia this summer. The Muskrats will visit them in Rhode Island twice in July. Laconia will get back to work Sunday night, hosting the New Bedford Bay Sox at 6:30 PM.
