Navs to play exhibition Saturday vs. team of players with Dominican Republic roots

LYNN – The North Shore Navigators are trying to reach out to all aspects of the community, and Saturday night, they’ll get a chance to connect with the city’s Hispanic population.View Photo GalleryLongtime Lynn baseball figure Ruben Pimental will field a team of players with roots in the Dominican Republic, called the Tigres Dominicanos, in an exhibition game against the Navigators, beginning at 5 p.m. at Fraser Field.The game is part of a larger weekend festival that will conclude Sunday, also at Fraser.”We are having a parade that starts around 1 p.m., from Union Street all the way up to Fraser Field,” said Pimental. “Then, we will play the game.”Pimental was a successful coach and manager for the Lynn Babe Ruth program, and took the 14-year-old all-star team to the New England regionals in 2006. Although no longer associated with Babe Ruth, he still keeps his hand in baseball, “hopefully working with kids, helping them get into college, and helping wherever I can.”Some of the kids who will play Saturday have finished two-year colleges and are going onto four-year schools.”Pimental doesn’t have a home base, per se, “but we’re working in different areas. It may be Fraser Field one day, behindn English another day ? wherever we can find a place to work out. We’re just hoping to be able to give kids some good advice and good orientation.”The roster includes a few players Pimental coached while he was with Babe Ruth, but almost all of them went to English or Classical.The team includes Brian Maynard, Clemente Para, Estaban Paola (who will be the captain), Junior Santos, Jonathan Santaleses and Jairo Valdez, all of whom played for English; and Eddie Terrero, Wilfredo Feliz and Mike Cristostomo, who are Classical alumni.For Navigators general manager, it is the first time he’s been involved in this project. The last time Pimental fielded a team at Fraser for this event was 2011.”If we can attract some more people to the ballpark, then let’s do it,” said Terlecky, who notes that the uncommonly cool and rainy June has hampered attendance at Fraser Field.”Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of people out to the park, and they’ll see what we’re all about ? and hopefully they will come back.”Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].