LYNN — It was an up-and-down day for the North Shore Navigators on Tuesday, as the Navs split a doubleheader with the North Adams SteepleCats in a pair of New England Collegiate Baseball League bouts at Fraser Field.
The Navs won the first game by a score of 6-1, while the second game went to North Adams by a score of 10-3.
In the first game, Alex Lemery went 3-for-4 with two RBI to lead the way. Ryan Marra continued his run of great play by going 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Joe Lomuscio (1-for-4) and Dylan Brazil (1-for-3) each had an RBI.
Austin Amaral earned the win on the mound for the Navs, tossing six innings and allowing one run on just two hits with one strikeout. James Sashin came on to pitch a scoreless inning of relief.
The Navs got off to a great start in the first game, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to an RBI triple from Lomuscio.
The SteepleCats quickly tied things up in the bottom of the first, getting an RBI single from Jeremy Lea.
But just when it looked like it might be a close, back-and-forth game, the Navs ran away with it.
It started when Lemery gave North Shore a 2-1 lead on an RBI double in the second inning, then the Navs extended their lead to 6-1 in the fifth behind a two-run double from Marra and RBI singles from Lemery and Brazil.
The North Shore pitching took over from there, as Amaral wrapped up his strong outing with one final inning before Sashin closed things out in the seventh for the victory.
In the second game, Lemery and Logan Bravo each had an RBI while Jake Gustin, Jonathan Luders, Cal Cristofori and Jake McElroy each added a hit.
North Adams took the early lead in this one, taking advantage of some control issues from Emus in the first inning. Two walks and a hit batter loaded up the bases for the SteepleCats before Brandon Hylton drew an RBI walk to make it a 1-0 game. But Emus settled down from there, stranding the bases loaded and escaping with minimal damage.
But the SteepleCats piled on some more in the third inning, getting RBI hits from Hylton and Lucas Donlon before getting another run on a fielder’s choice. After John Marti smashed an RBI double, North Adams led 5-0.
The Navs finally got on the board in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from Bravo, but North Shore still trailed 5-1 through four innings.
North Adams added two more runs in the top of the fifth before North Shore was finally able to answer again in the bottom of the sixth. After scoring a run on a North Adams error, Lemery notched an RBI sacrifice fly to make it a 7-3 game.
But then the SteepleCats capped off the game with three more insurance runs in the seventh to take home the win.
The Navs now have Wednesday off before returning to action Thursday evening (6:35) against the Vermont Mountaineers back at Fraser Field.
