Victorious Navs ride big inning to eclipse Suns

LYNN – The North Shore Navigators erupted for a huge seven-run seventh inning to catapult themselves past the visiting Pittsfield Suns 11-7 at Fraser Field Wednesday. The Navigators rebounded from a tough home loss the night before to improve to 7-13 on the season while the Suns fall to 8-10.The Navigators starter, Alex Valenti, struggled through 4.1 innings and left trailing 4-2. Headed into the bottom of the seventh, the home team was down 7-3 and the outlook was bleak with Suns starter Justin Finan hurling late into the contest. North Shore had other plans as leadoff hitter Sheldon Brogden started off the frame with an infield single. After seven consecutive hits, the game was knotted at 7-7 and the Navigators were tearing it up on the basepaths. The go-ahead hit came in the form of a triple by first baseman Omar Cuevas, who collected two RBI after lacing the ball over the head of the centerfielder. With the Navigators batting around and then some, they headed into the eighth with an 11-7 advantage.Relievers Cole Chandler and Rob DiFranco closed out the contest with two shutout innings as DiFranco fanned Zach Tower swinging to send Navigators fans home happy.Nick Lops led the explosive North Shore attack with a 4-for-5 performance, scoring a run, and collecting an RBI.