FILE PHOTO
Speros Verinos struck out eight batters over five innings in Tuesday night’s loss to Brockton.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
The North Shore Navigators’ seven-game win streak came to a close on Tuesday night, falling to the Brockton Rox on the road, 4-1.
It was a crucial game for the Navigators and the Rox, as both team sat at 26-24 entering the game. The Navigators are holding on to the fifth seed in the playoff race after the loss.
Despite the loss, starter Speros Varinos (Tufts University) was solid on the mound. In five innings of work, he struck out eight Brockton batters and had good control over all of his pitches. Although he gave up three runs, only two of them were earned and he did a good job of limiting the damage.
After Varinos’ night was done, the Navigators got an absolutely stellar effort out of their relief pitcher Sean O’Neill (Brandeis University). O’Neill worked the last three innings and put forth a very solid effort. He struck out five batters over the course of his outing and overpowered a lot of the Rox batters. He only surrendered a single hit during the game which resulted in one run by virtue of a couple of steals. O’Neill kept the game close and gave the Navigators a chance to score some runs late.
The Navigators got their offense going a little bit in the ninth inning, but they were unable to do enough to overcome the Rox. After a leadoff triple by Jordan Roper (Marist College), Colby Maiola (UMass Lowell) managed to draw a walk. With two on and nobody out, Christian Cabrera (Broward CC) hit a hard grounder to the shortstop that the Rox turned into two outs. Roper came around to score the lone Navigators run but that was all the offense could produce.
Roper had a pretty solid day for the Navigators. He went 2-for-4 on the day hitting the triple and a big double into right center field in the first inning. He raised his average to .333 on the season and has been one of the hottest Navigators hitters over the past couple of weeks.
The Navigators will return to action on Wednesday, August 3 when they play host to the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. First pitch will be at 7 p.m. and the game will be at historic Fraser Field in Lynn.