Navs Stage Late Rally, Down Gulls Monday in Newport

NEWPORT, R.I. — The North Shore Navigators put together a memorable late-inning rally en route to their second straight win, scoring four runs in the top of the eighth to defeat the Newport Gulls, 6-4, in Monday night's New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Cardines Field.

Right fielder Grayson Carpenter (Dayton) and shortstop Hudson Ellis (Oral Roberts) bookended the North Shore lineup with 3-for-4 performances, with Carpenter knocking home Ellis in each of his first three plate appearances. Ellis, who finished a home run shy of the cycle, also knocked in the go-ahead run during the Navs' big inning.

The Navs (3-6) received outstanding bookending pitching performances as well, with Wenham native Gian Gamelli (Notre Dame) pitching four innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in his first start of the summer and fellow southpaw Charley Bergsma (Harvard) closed the game with 3.1 one-hit innings to post the victory.

After Newport's Mickey McClaskey (Gonzaga) struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced in relief of starter Mason Christopher (Seton Hall), North Shore batted around while putting together a three-run, five-hit inning to erase a 3-2 deficit and clinch its first victory in Newport since July 25, 2024.

First baseman Maddix Simpson (Ohio State) started the inning with a single down the right-field line before third baseman Jason Bello (Dayton) knocked a base hit of his own through the right side. Two batters later, second baseman Jack Rickheim (Harvard) knocked a game-tying RBI single high off the center-field fence. 

After Newport elected to replace David McSweeney (Northeastern) with Jake Gregor (Louisville) out of the bullpen, Ellis stung a grounder that the shortstop misplayed, allowing Bello to score the go-ahead run. Ellis followed by stealing second base, and back-to-back singles by Carpenter and center fielder Hunter Kingsbury (Bryant) plated crucial insurance runs.

Bergsma struck out five across his stellar long relief outing, allowing his only hit on third baseman Maddox Haley's (Gonzaga) two-out RBI double in the ninth. The lefty stranded two runners on base with an inning-ending punchout to begin his outing in the sixth before striking out the side in the eighth.

After Gamelli dialed up inning-ending strikeouts to end the first two frames scoreless, North Shore drew first blood as Carpenter knocked a fielder's choice in the third. Ellis sparked the inning with a one-out triple that bounced down in left before sliding home as Carpenter's grounder along a drawn-in infield.

Newport worked around Gamelli striking out the side in the fourth to level the score. The southpaw started the inning with back-to-back strikeouts before left fielder Cade Brown (Georgia Tech) knocked a single through the left side, stole second and scored on shortstop Caeden Cloud's (Kentucky) double off the right-field wall.

A walk followed Newport's game-tying hit, but after a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, Gamelli struck out center fielder Chris Klug (Navy) to end the threat.

The Navs took the lead back in the top of the fifth, as Ellis knocked a leadoff double into the right-center gap and scored as Carpenter followed with a line-drive back up the middle. Newport then replaced Christopher with McClaskey, who proceeded to strike out three straight with a runner on to limit the damage.

With Gamelli out of the game, Newport knotted the score on Haley's sacrifice fly in the fifth and took a 3-2 lead on designated hitter Ryan Novak's (Miami) run-scoring grounder in the seventh. Bergsma induced a grounder to strand the insurance runner on third base, setting the stage for the next frame's heroics.

The Navs return home to Fraser Field for a three-game homestand across three consecutive nights, starting with a Tuesday night visit from the North Division rival Vermont Mountaineers. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.