Navigators rally late for victory over Rox

LYNN – The North Shore Navigators used a late rally to steal a 5-3 win from the visiting Brockton Rox and improve to 14-20 on the season. The East Division-leading Rox fall to 22-14 with their fourth straight defeat.After five scoreless innings for both sides, the bats came alive in the sixth. A leadoff walk by Rox DH Devlin Granberg started things off and two batters later, with the bases loaded, first baseman Apolinar De La Cruz came through with a big two-RBI single to plate the first runs of the contest. A sacrifice fly by the catcher, Joe Freiday, extended Brockton?s lead to 3-0.The Navigators came right back with a vengeance in the bottom of the frame. The first seven batters of the inning reached base for North Shore as the Navs scored three runs of their own to erase the deficit and knot it up at 3-3.In the bottom of the seventh, the Navigators completed their comeback when catcher Joe Coyne delivered a clutch two-out, two-RBI double to deep left-center field, giving the home team a 5-3 advantage that it would not relinquish.Four different Navigators reached base at least twice as center fielder Rich Baerga led the charge with three singles during a 3-for-4 afternoon. Coyne was the biggest contributor, going 2-for-4 with a single, double and four RBI.Reliever Michael Flaherty earned the win for North Shore, hurling two scoreless innings, while Shawn Carlson collected a hold for his shutout eighth and Rob DiFranco sat the Rox down in order in the ninth for the save.