Navs ready for playoffs

After the second game of this past Tuesday’s twinbill against Lowell, the North Shore Navigators coaching staff and players rewarded their fans with a round of applause for the appreciation and support that the ballclub had been given during the course of the regular season.Now the reward that the Navs will have beginning tomorrow evening is hosting the first game of the first round of one of the two Divisional Semifinals. The squad, which finished second in the Northern Division behind Sanford, will take on nemesis Keene tomorrow evening at 7 at Fraser Field. The series will shift to Keene on Sunday, and should a game three be necessary, both clubs will return to Fraser on Monday.Should the Navigators oust Keene, they would take on the Sanford-Vermont winner on Aug. 5 in another best-two-of-three in the Northern Division Championship Series. The winner will play the Southern Division champ for the NECBL crown beginning Aug. 8 in another two-out-of-three tilt.North Shore had a tough time with the SwampBats, dropping four of the six contests played between the two clubs, including a pair by one run. Yet the Navs belted the Bats 10-0 in early July, then shaded Keene in a 14-inning thriller two weeks later.The strength of the Navigators has been their pitching, as the club has amassed a league-best 2.48 ERA. The starters have literally been the backbone of the squad, with half of them (the Navs go with a six-man rotation) with an ERA under two.Manager Jason Falcon will open up with lefty Matt Costello (2-0, 1.80) tomorrow evening, and he was responsible for the 10-0 shellacking of Keene on July 6. Righty John Folino (3-0, 0.45) takes to the mound on Sunday, and if there’s a game three, southpaw Jimmy Lisowski (2-1, 2.33) will be the starter.The Navs also have righty Wayde Kitchens (2-1, 1.30), Adam Herter (5-2, 2.72), and Mike DiCato (2-3, 6.00) rounding out the rotation.Coming out of the ‘pen will be closer Chris Prescott (1-0, 0.53, nine saves), along with set-up men Chris Markovitz (5-1, 0.71), Ryan Krull (0-0, 2.05) and Chris Kowalski (1-2, 2.59). Mike Gallo (2-3, 2.45) and Mike Adams (0-2, 5.33) proved to be quite valuable to the club over the summer with their work on the mound.Costello also spells trouble for the opposition even on the nights when he isn’t pitching, as he’s inserted into the lineup as designated hitter. He’s second on the club with a .311 batting average, and has clubbed a pair of homers.The Navs have had a tough time getting hits as of late, but are a scrappy bunch and know how to manufacture runs. They have one of the top players in the league in outfielder Sean McNaughton, as he leads the team in several offensive categories (runs, slugging, RBI, doubles, and total bases among them).Outfielder Mike Provencher (.305, 4, 22) leads the team in homers, while teammate Justin Little (.272, 0, 5) has swiped 13 bases. Tyler Kuehl (.297, 1, 25) provides solid defense at second, while first basemen Kent Graham (.203, 2, 12) and Ryan McCrann (.189, 0,5) have provided solid play at the bag all year.Nick Belcher (.233, 1, 22) and Chad Zurcher (.259, 0, 5) have split the starting job at short, while Belcher and Ryan Geason (.200, 0, 5) have done the same at third.The Navs have a pair of solid backstops in John Hill (.225, 0, 9) and Frank Pesanello (.227, 1, 4), and they’ve combined to throw out several would-be base stealers, helping to end many a potential opposing threat.North Shore lost in the league finals last year, when it was then known as the Holyoke Giants. Now under a new name, the Navs hope to make a new ending to a new season.