Martha’s Vineyard Sharks took down the Newport Gulls Tuesday in Game 2 of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) Southern Division Finals at the Shark Tank on Tuesday night, putting themselves one win away from a championship appearance.
Things were looking grim after the Gulls took Game 1 in Newport with a lopsided score of 7-14 on Monday, but the home team bounced back at the Shark Tank Tuesday night, with bats coming alive in the later innings, to earn themselves a commanding 17-6 victory.
The final game of the three-game series will be played in Newport to see who will be the southern division champions and move on to battle it out with the Keene Swamp Bats for the league championship. If the Sharks advance to the finals, it would be the third time since they entered the league in 2019.
While the Sharks poured on runs on Tuesday, Head Coach Payton Fuller said the difference between Game 1 and Game 2 was mostly discipline in the field, and pitching.
“We gave them some free stuff [Monday]. We made four errors, and you’re not going to be super-successful when you do that,” said Fuller after the game. “So we played better defense tonight, threw more strikes, and it worked out for us.”
It was a pitching duel early in the game. The Sharks’ Peter Dubie (No. 38) took the hill first. The Brown University senior put on a clinic, carving through the Gulls early lineup like butter.
The scoreboard lit up for the first time in the bottom of the second after a couple of stubborn Shark at-bats earned them baserunners on first and third, setting the stage for Max Kaufer (No. 27) to launch a towering three-run home run over the left field wall.
A lone Sharks error in the third — their only slip-up of the game — gave the Gulls an opening with a man on base. The Gulls’ Michael Gupton (No. 5) capitalized on the opportunity, lining one to the outfield for the Gulls’ first run of the night. Not done yet, Colby Wallace (No. 1) of the Gulls stepped up and crushed a homer, to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the third.
Undeterred, the Sharks packed the bases in their next at-bat in the bottom of the third, setting up Gio Colasante (No. 36) to pipe one to the outfield, driving two runners to the plate; the second baserunner was nabbed courtesy of a textbook Gulls relay.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Sharks’ Brady Krzciok (No. 25) ripped a double, driving in another for the Sharks to extend their lead to 6-3. The Gulls answered back in the top of the sixth, tallying a single run to keep themselves within striking distance, at 6-4 Sharks.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the wheels started to come apart for the Gulls. Thanks to some solid drives from Brayden Martin (No. 42), Krzciok (No. 25), Will Hampton (No. 8), and Dominic Moats (No. 15), alongside some help from Gulls pitching blunders, the Sharks would net a total of 10 runs, blowing the game wide open. The 16-4 lead was too much for the Gulls bats to overcome.
“We had a good plan when he came in,” Fuller said of the opposing pitcher. “We knew the breaking ball wasn’t going to be a strike, so we were just sitting on the fastball. We took a bunch of good swings.”
The Sharks’ pitching staff had its own obstacles as well. The usual eighth- and ninth-inning relievers, Colby McNeely (No. 7) and Rohan Lettow (No. 41), took over in the fourth and fifth innings, a decision that worked out well.
“We had to use our two best relievers in the fourth and fifth inning,” said Fuller. “McNeely put a rally out, and then Rohan Lettow did the same thing the next inning, both really big spots, and they really helped us out there tonight.”
“It was dicey early, kind of back-and-forth, but in the sixth inning we scored 10 runs and broke the game open,” added Fuller.
The Sharks head up to Newport Wednesday night to battle for the division championship and a chance to face off against the Keene Swamp Bats for the league championship. But after Tuesday’s game, they need to rethink their pitching strategy.
“We don’t even know who our starting pitcher is going to be — we are going to sleep on it — but it’s a one-game season at this point, Game 3 of the series, winners goes to the championship against Keene, and we are just going to play our best brand of baseball,” said Fuller.
“The crowd was fantastic tonight,” added Fuller. “Huge crowd, super into the game, and it makes it really fun for our guys.”
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