PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Joey Pena leads off with a base hit for the patriotic-uniformed Navigators Saturday.
LYNN — Because they were away Sunday and are off today, the North Shore Navigators held their July 4 party at Fraser Field Saturday night, with a heavily-patriotic theme.
The Navs broke out the red, white and blue American flag-motif uniforms. They played patriotic songs between innings, honored American veterans, had a disabled vet out in left field after the game shagging fly balls, and even had an artist paint a mural of an American eagle on the ball behind the first-base bleachers.
The Navs celebrated the holiday weekend with two wins, taking down the Bravehearts in Worcester by a score of 7-6 Sunday, after topping Brockton at home, 6-1, Saturday.
The Navs found themselves in a 2-0 hole early Sunday, but bounced back with four runs in the third.
Mike D’Acunti knotted the game at two with a two-run single, and Colby Maiola followed with a two-run home run to give the Navs a 4-2 lead.
D’Acunti provided a big knock of his own in the fifth with a solo home run. D’Acunti drove in three runs and scored three times.
The Bravehearts tacked on a couple runs late, but Sean O’Neill (Brandeis University) held on to pick up his second save of the season. Relievers Brian Burke (Curry College) and Quinn DiPasquale (Stevens Institute) had scoreless outings for the Navs as the team picked up its third straight win.
Saturday night, the Navs stayed hot in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 who turned out to honor America and watch its pastime. They got to see a big victory from the home team, as the Navs defeated the Brockton Rox, 6-1.
The Navs have now won 11 of their last 15 games, and are slowly climbing back from a dismal 1-12 start to be in the brink of entering the playoff picture.
Speros Varinos (Tufts University) made his second start and worked seven innings, striking out four. The only run against him was unearned.
Navs newcomer DiPasquale made his debut and pitched the final two innings. DiPasquale only allowed one hit and struck out a batter as well.
At the plate, Keith Linnane went 1-for-3 with a triple and an RBI. D’Acunti went 3-for-5, and drove in the go-ahead run in the third inning.
The Navs are back at Fraser Field Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Pittsfield Suns.
In a game Friday that ended too late for Saturday’s paper, the Navs went 11 innings to defeat the Nashua Silver Knights, 9-6.
D’Acunti was the story of the game, as he either scored or drove in six of the Navigators’ runs.
