LYNN — The North Shore Navigators earned their second walk-off win of the season on Sunday afternoon at Fraser Field as center fielder Joe Lomuscio (Stanford) beat out an infield single to drive home the winning run in a 3-2, 10-inning triumph over the Vermont Mountaineers in New England Collegiate Baseball League action.
North Shore improved to 9-7-2 following its third win in four games, while Vermont slipped to 10-8.
Before Lomuscio brought in his team-leading 16th run of the season on his second hit of the game, first baseman Logan Bravo (Harvard) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI and left fielder David Kale (Fordham) logged a pair of hits and one RBI of his own. Bravo hit safely in each of his first three at-bats, hitting a game-tying home run to left-center field in the seventh inning.
Navs starter Chris Shine (Seton Hall) started the game off with a 1-2-3 inning and retired the first five batters he faced before the visitors jumped on the scoreboard first on catcher Adam Retzbach’s (Lehigh) two-out homer during a two-run, three-hit second inning. Left fielder Casey Mayes (Michigan State) started the offense with an infield single and came across the plate on the Retzbach shot to left.
The Navs cut their deficit in half as Kale sent a two-out single through the middle against Vermont lefty and fellow Patriot Leaguer Luke Rettig (Lehigh) in the bottom of the third. Bravo started the frame with an infield hit and took a base on right fielder Dylan Brazil’s (Stetson) grounder.
North Shore held the opposition scoreless for the rest of the game following the Retzbach homer, as the score remained 2-1 through the middle innings. Shine scattered seven hits but no more runs and struck out three across his five innings, while the duo of Zach Chappell (North Florida) and James Sashin (San Diego) gave up just two hits and struck out two batters apiece across their respective two innings of work.
The Navs left runners on base in two of the three innings following Kale’s RBI, but the aforementioned relievers helped keep the game close. Double play balls ended threats in the fourth and fifth innings, with designated hitter Jose Aquino’s (Cisco) leadoff single being squandered in the latter one.
Bravo hit his seventh-inning homer against a familiar face in Harvard teammate Timothy Williamson. However, the Navs were unable to put up another run as Brazil was stranded on second base following a two-out walk and stolen base.
The hard-throwing Cole Roland (Dartmouth) held the Navs scoreless over the next two innings to send the game to extras, stranding two runners on base in the eighth after second baseman Jonathan Luders (Seton Hall) and Lomuscio walked.
North Shore closer Justin Butera (Merrimack) retired three consecutive batters in the 10th to strand the International Tie Breaker runner on third base, allowing his offense to come through and win the game rather quickly. The tall righty kept the game tied and was ultimately rewarded with his first win to go along with a pair of saves this summer.
Brazil was the Navs’ automatic runner to start the final frame and moved across the diamond thanks to a walk to Aquino and Luders’ fly ball to center. With the winning run standing just 90 feet away, Lomuscio slid into first base safely to beat out a deciding infield single hit at Vermont shortstop Matt McDermott (Coastal Carolina).
The loss went to Tucker Wittman, a one-time Navigator who retired the first two batters he faced before North Shore plated the final run. Vermont’s nine hits matched the Navs and included a pair by designated hitter Jeffrey Holtz (Xavier).
North Shore has Monday off before hitting the road to open a home-and-home series against the defending champion Keene Swamp Bats on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. from Alumni Field in Keene, N.H.
