By TYKER MAHEU
NEWPORT — The Newport Tigers baseball team hung around long enough to make it interesting, but the Spartans of White Mountains Regional High School ultimately prevailed, 5-3.
The Tigers quickly fell behind in the top of the first, as an RBI double off the bat of White Mountains’ Labounty scored one.
Things got worse in the second, as the Spartans were able to move two more runners across the plate, making Newport’s deficit, 3-0. With White Mountains threatening again in the top of the third, Newport catcher Jarred Mayette picked off a runner at third, swinging the momentum in favor of the Tigers.
In the bottom of the fourth, the first two batters of the inning reached on errors. Then, with two outs, Daniel Lee hit a single into deep right-centerfield, plating both runners and bringing the score to 3-2. Lee would later come in to score when Kyle Fish was walked with the bases loaded, tying the game at three. They would leave the bases loaded to end the inning, something that would come back to haunt the Tigers later.
Tigers Head Coach Jon Hamel was impressed with his team’s effort. “The guys fought hard,” he said. “I’m proud of the way we fought back.”
The top of the fifth inning saw the Spartans load the bases, scoring a run off a Newport error. For the Tigers, they got a solid pitching performance from starter Logan Barry. He went all seven innings, while throwing 107 pitches, and striking out eight. “Logan pitched outstanding,” said Hamel. “He was very efficient.”
In the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers managed to get a runner to third, but left him stranded. And again in the sixth, they were able to get runners on second and third with no outs, but their inability to drive them in would prove to be the final nail in the coffin. The Spartans added an insurance run in the seventh, making the final score 5-3.
“I think we played strong defense,” said Spartans head coach Ben Hicks. “Strong pitching performance and good defense was most impressive.”
The loss drops the Tigers to 1-1 on the season.
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