By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The Newport Gulls are the 2023 New England Collegiate Baseball League champions, posting an 8-4 victory over the Bristol Blues on Tuesday night from Muzzy Field.

The Gulls – winners of six straight games to end the postseason – ending up sweeping the best-of-three series over the Blues, 2-0.

It was Newport’s first Fay Vincent, Sr. Cup victory since 2014.

Bristol gamely stayed in contention, even after allowing four first inning runs to Newport, by notching four runs of its own in the bottom of the second stanza to tie things up at 4-4.

However, Newport tallied three runs in the fourth frame and one final tally in the top of the eighth to snare an 8-4 edge – never looking back.

It was a surprise run by the Blues to the finals after nearly finishing the regular season at .500 before making a huge push all the way to the NECBL finals.

Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision on Tuesday even after Newport roughed up Bristol starter Jagger Duquette (four runs, four hits) but the NECBL All-Star ended the season with a perfect 4-0 record.

Newport’s Grant Umberger fanned 11 over 5.1 relief innings, keeping the Blues off the board late.

At one point, the chucker retired 12-of-13 batters.

Luke Beckstein was 3-for-4 on the with three singles and two runs scored to lead Newport from the dish.

The Blues used eight pitchers as Luke Benneche drew the loss in the end (2.2 IP, 4 hits, 3 Ks, 3 ER).

Bristol’s Jordan Peyton went 2-for-5, scoring a run and nabbing an RBI, while Connor Goodman, Gavin Noriega (two stolen bases), Cal Parrillo and Darius Troche all roped up hits for the locals.

To start the showdown, Newport’s Tyler Hare smacked out a three-run homer while Billy Butler dropped in an RBI single to make it a 4-0 push through just a half inning of work.

Nevertheless, Bristol made a quick response in the bottom of the second inning.

Tyler Fote walked and Troche singled to put two runners on with no outs and each advanced a base via an error.

Peyton and Goodman later connected on back-to-back RBI base hits to trim the deficit to 4-2.

Noriega later added another RBI single and finally, a sacrifice fly by Skye Selinsky plated one final runner as the contest was quickly all tied up at 4-4.

In the fourth inning, Newport made it academic.

An RBI single by Jacob Burley proved to be the game-winner and then a two-out wild pitch led to a couple more runners scoring as the Gulls snared a 7-4 lead.

The Blues went a credible 4-3 over postseason play and finished the year 25-21-1 overall.

After losing its first playoff game and then wining six straight to complete their postseason dash, the Gulls ended the 2023 campaign at 37-12 – carrying the best record into the playoffs.

NOTES…The NECBL Championship trophy is named in honor of the father of former commissioner of Major League Baseball, Fay Vincent Jr., who served as the president of the NECBL from 1998 to 2004. Fay Jr. commissioned the trophy to be named after his father, Fay Vincent, Sr.