LYNN — A June night at Fraser Field featuring $3 hot dogs, country music, and some of the best college baseball players in the country – that sounds like the North Shore Navigators are here.
In the Navs’ home opener Friday – entering 1-1 with a loss to Martha’s Vineyard and win against North Adams – they were headlined by pitcher Brayden Clark in their 7-1 win against Keene.
By the time the Beverly native and Salve Regina ace left five innings into his Navs debut, he had retired 12 of his last 13 batters to go with six strikeouts and just three hits allowed.
He got some run support along the way, too. A Peter Messervy (Weston; Harvard) single and Evan Griffis (Longwood, Stetson) sacrifice put the hosts ahead 2-0 in the third inning.
From there, in the sixth, Jake McElroy (North Andover; Holy Cross) and DJ Pacheco (Danvers; University of Richmond) connected on base hits to put the Navs ahead 4-0.
Kaden Humphrey (Naples, Stetson) went 1-2-3 on the Navs’ mound the next inning, followed by Matt Chatelle (Stoneham, Merrimack), McElroy, and Henry Kaczmar (Akron, Ohio State) securing hits for a 7-0 advantage to end the seventh.
In the end, the hosts ran away with a 7-1 victory for the home fans.
The Navs return to action Saturday when they travel to face the Valley Blue Sox at 6:30 p.m.
