By: Shannon Bickert

The Schooners are celebrating the Fourth of July with a home game against the Newport Gulls. The Schooners have a game on the Gulls in the NECBL South standings. Mystic enters the game 14-8, while the Gulls come in with a 14-9-1 record.

Mystic is coming off a road win to Valley, where they dominated the Blue Sox 11-2. Anthony Belisario (Portal) recorded a three-hit game, reaching four times and swiping a bag. Devin Russell (UNC) rocked a three-run blast for his third homer of the summer in the win.

The Gulls enter the contest on a two-game skid, falling on Friday night to Ocean State. The Waves scored two in the ninth inning to swipe the win away from the Gulls at Cardines.

The season series between the squads is tied at one a piece. In their last contest, the Schooners fell 8-4 on the road, their only road loss of the summer. In their first meeting, the Schooners walked off the Gulls in the 11th, after entering the bottom of the 11th down my six runs.

The Gulls’ Ryan Jaros (Rutgers) ranks fifth in the NECBL in batting average, posting a .383 clip across 12 games. Newport has big blast capabilities, behind Ryan Novak (Miami U), who leads in the league in homers with five and Caeden Cloud (UK) who has tallied four this summer.

Casey Wensley (Bryant) and Jamie Zee (Notre Dame) are both ranked in the NECBL in RBI with 18 for Mystic. Cam Righi (UConn) has helped lift Mystic to one of the strongest teams on the bathpaths in the NECBL, swiping 13 bags on the summer, which is tied for second in the league.

During Saturday’s contest, a fifty-fifty drawing will occur during the third inning. All proceeds from the raffle and concessions will benefit the Hepburn family, a local family who lost their house to a fire this past week.

First pitch from Ed Harvey Field is set for 6:30 pm. Catch the live-game broadcast on NECBL+.