PHOTO BY SPENSER HASAK
North Shore Navigators mascot Chomps does a dance with James Benjamin, 6, of Boston, center, and Noah Garnder, 5, of Lynn, during the home opener on Saturday.
LYNN — The North Shore Navigators started off the home season with four innings of no-hit baseball, but weren’t able to hold on as the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks prevailed, 7-3.
Their woes continued Sunday night at home when the Seacoast Mavericks, who had defeated them in their season’s opener, scored two runs in the ninth for a 3-1 win.
The Navs were welcomed back to Fraser Field Satuday by a crowd of 2,100. The fans were in a festive mood early as when the Navs took a 2-0 lead, and the team’s efforts to provide something for everyone were much appreciated.
“It was my first visit to Fraser Field in about 20 years,” said Kris Horgan Mason, of Kingston, N.H. “I found it to be as friendly and fun-filled as when we used to watch the Lynn Sailors when I was a kid.
“It was my son’s (Brayden) first visit and he enjoyed being able to see players just a few years older than he is doing what he hopes to do one day.” Her son is 14 and plays baseball for his high school team and for a team in Portsmouth, N.H.
Mason also appreciated the effort of North Shore Christian student Isaac Toledo, 10, from Wenham, in singing the National Anthem.
“That took a lot of courage to sing in front of a large crowd,” she said.
The Navigators dropped to 0-3 on the young season.
“It’s awesome, I can’t imagine spending my summers anywhere else,” said catcher Keith Linnane (UMass-Amherst). “I mean the turnout was awesome, it’s too bad we couldn’t get a win. It was a great night, overall.”
Linnane, a three-time returner to the Navigators, contributed with two of the nine hits for the Navs, including his first double of the season. His teammates Mac Singleton (Salem State) also had two hits to kick start the offense for the Navigators.
Starter Evan Glew (Northern Essex) pitched four shutout innings, but was quickly inundated in the middle of the game by the Sharks.
“Every time Evan is out there he’s going to give our team the chance to win,” Linnane said. “That’s what he did tonight, we just couldn’t get a couple more runs for him.”
The Navigators’ offense was unable to come back against a four-run sixth inning by the Sharks. Glew only gave up two hits and an earned run before being taken out. Martha’s Vineyard scored in the third with a wild pitch and an error by the first baseman. After Glew was replaced the Sharks’ offense took off, and Martha’s Vineyard pulled to a 3-2 lead. After tacking on another run, Josh Partridge (St. Joseph’s College) put out the fire. After an attempted tag as the runner sprinted to second before throwing to first, the runner came in and scored the fourth run of the inning.
The Sharks kept the momentum going at the top of the ninth with back-to-back triples to score the sixth of the night. A long double up the first base line allowed another run to score. A closing hit posted another run to add on, giving the Sharks the win.
Sunday, the game was tied at 1-1 until the ninth. Confusion on a popup led to one run, and the other scored on a walk.
The Navigators are home tonight (7) against the Bristol Blues.
