Navigators score 18 in an offensive battle

Runs were easy to come by on Tuesday night as the North Shore Navigators and Wachusett Dirt Dawgs combined to score 34 runs and 10 home runs. It was just one of those games where everything seemed to be hit and hit hard.Neither of the game?s starters would make it into the 5th inning as the score was 6-5 going into that inning. Matt Rodriguez (West Florida) went 4 innings, giving up 6 runs on 5 hits while striking out 6 and walking 2. Dan Ditusa (Seton Hall) pitched 3 2/3 innings, giving up 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits with 3 K?s and 1 walk. Neither pitcher factored in the decision.Sheldon Brogden (Lee) reached on an error to bring home the game?s first run in the top of the 1st inning. Matt Ramsay (Wofford) would score on a wild pitch in the 2nd inning to make it 2-0. Brodgen then led off the 3rd inning with a home run to extend the lead to 3-0.The Dirt Dawgs would come back to take the lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Mike Corin (Rhode Island) and Joe Breen (Southern Connecticut) each hit two-run home runs to take a 4-3 lead.That lead would not stand for long as Stanley Susana (St. Thomas Aquinas) hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 4th as the Navigators reclaimed the lead 6-4. Wachusett struck back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Kevin Marciano (Western New England).Alex Burridge (Southeast Missouri State) hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 5th but the Dirt Dawgs scored 5 in the bottom of the 5th, capped off by a Mattingly Romanin (Chicago State) 3-run homer.After 1 run for North Shore in the top of the 6th and 2 for Wachusett in the bottom of the 6th, the scoring would unload again in the 7th inning. The Navigators scored 4 runs, including a 3-run shot by Kyle Hood (Franklin Pierce), and the Dirt Dawgs had 4 runs on 3 hits and 2 errors.The score would be 16-13 Wachusett heading into the 9th inning. Skyler Geissinger (SIU-Edwardsville) hit a home run to lead off the inning. Stanley Susana hit a sacrifice fly that scored Tim Hendricks (Benedictine) to cut the lead down to 1. Sean O?Neill (Merrimack) tied the game on an RBI single and then Matt Ramsay and O?Neill would come around to score later on that inning to give the Navigators an 18-16 lead.The 18 runs were good enough for the win as Brady Wright (Southeast Missouri State) pitched a scoreless bottom of the 9th. The late surge by the Navigators provided just enough offense to win a type of game that is very rarely seen.There were many notables in the game for North Shore but a few really stood out. Stanley Susana (twice), Sheldon Brogden, Skyler Geissinger, Alex Burridge, and Kyle Hood all picked up their first home run of the year. Susana had 5 RBI while Hood had 3. Brady Wright did the seemingly impossible and pitched 2 scoreless innings.The Navigators return home to Fraser Field on Wednesday night when they take on the Torrington Titans.