FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
(NEWPORT, R.I.) – Kentrail Davis (Tennessee; Theodore, Ala.) was 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and three RBI to propel the USA Baseball National Trials Team to an 8-3 victory Thursday night over the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League at Cardines Field. The National Trials team improved to 6-2 with the victory and finished the NECBL portion of its tour 5-2 against the league.
With the score tied 1-1 in the third, Davis ripped his fourth round-tripper of the tour off the light standard in beyond the 20-foot high right-field fence. The U.S. squad never trailed again, stretching its lead with a run in the fourth, two runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth.
Starter Kyle Gibson (Missouri; Greenfield, Ind.) earned the victory in a predetermined 4.0-inning start. He yielded two runs on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Mike Leake (Arizona State; Fallbrook, Calif.) tossed 3.0 scoreless and hitless innings, hitting one batter. A.J. Griffin (San Diego; El Cajon, Calif.) worked a perfect eighth inning with one strikeout. Blake Smith (California; Modesto, Calif.) escaped a troublesome ninth, allowing one run on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
The National Trials Team took an early lead thanks to a Hunter Morris (Auburn; Huntsville, Ala.) RBI groundout in the top of the first. The lead was short-lived, though, as Nick Santomauro led off the bottom of the first with a home run for the Gulls.
But Davis’ three-run homer in the third gave the U.S. team the lead for good. Brian Fletcher (Auburn; Fayetteville, Ga.) had an RBI single in the fourth. Tommy Medica (Santa Clara; San Jose, Calif.) singled and later scored on a double play ball, and Aaron Senne (Missouri; Rochester, Minn.) added a solo homer in the fifth. Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton; Corona, Calif.) led off the sixth with a single and later scored on Hunter Morris’ RBI groundout.
Colon, Fletcher and Medica matched Davis with two-hit games, while Colon and Senne both scored twice.
Friday presents a long day for the National Trials Team, which will fly from Providence, R.I., to Durham, N.C., in the morning and then bus to Fayetteville, N.C., to face the Fayetteville Swampdogs of the Coastal Plain League. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT at J.P. Riddle Stadium.
