Navigators drop their fifth straight

LYNN – The North Shore Navigators suffered their fifth straight loss on Friday night, falling to the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs 5-4.The Dirt Dawgs jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with five runs in the top of the third inning. Brendan Skidmore led the inning off with a solo shot over the left field wall. Following his homerun, the Dirt Dawgs reeled off three straight singles, and an error by Navigators second baseman, Justin Peluso, plated two more runs for the Dirt Dawgs.However, the Navigators started to slowly chip away at the Dirt Dawgs lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Rich Baerga reached base with a single and was driven home by a single from Sean O’Neill. In the fifth, the Navigators got two back to make it a 5-3 game. After two quick outs, Tim Hendricks singled and was followed up by a double from Rich Baerga. The two of them came home on a single by Joe Coyne.In the seventh, the Navigators picked up their fourth run to make it a one run game. The Navigators picked up three straight singles and Justin Peluso scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-4 game.However, that would be the end of the rally for the Navigators as they fell to their fifth straight loss and to 17-25 on the season.Kyle Gauthier got the loss for the Navigators as he allowed five runs in 2.1 innings pitched. Steve Colella picked up the win for the Dirt Dawgs. Colella went five innings allowing three runs on six hits.Tim Woods, Trevor Massey, and Brandon Bingel combined to pitch 6.2 scoreless innngs out of the bullpen for the Navigators.The Navigators return to action tonight as they take on the Pittsfield Suns in Pittsfield.