LYNN — On the strength of a six-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning, the North Shore Navigators earned their first home win of the New England Collegiate Baseball League season, defeating the visiting Sanford Mainers 6-3 Wednesday afternoon at Fraser Field.
North Shore earned its second win in four games to improve to 2-5 this summer, while Sanford slipped to 0-3.
Designated hitter Sean Scanlon (Holy Cross) led North Shore’s eight-hit team effort, going 3-for-4 with a two-run single to provide insurance on the late-game lead. Center fielder Brooks Wright (Louisiana) went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored en route to his second consecutive multi-hit performance.
Five North Shore pitchers combined to strike out 15 batters, with left-handed starter John Whitney (Samford) tallying seven while allowing just one run on two hits across the first four innings. Raymond McNaught (Quinnipiac) earned the win in relief, striking out two across the sixth and seventh frames.
The Navs produced their six-run, five-hit seventh inning after Sanford starter Alfred Mucciarone (UMass Lowell) limited them to just three hits across his six-inning start.
Scanlon hit a leadoff single to left to get the offense started in the big inning, and after pinch-hitting infielder Jack Rickheim (Harvard) drew a walk, right fielder Ethan Wilson (Winthrop) lined a run-scoring single into right to get North Shore on the board. Wright followed with an infield hit that plated the tying run before Conor Moriarty (Bowdoin) walked and left fielder Jesse Jaconski (Penn State) dropped a go-ahead, pinch-hit single into shallow center.
After Sanford reliever Alexander Cook (College of Charleston) bounced back to strike out the next two batters, catcher Aidan Sengenberger (Stonehill) drew a bases-loaded walk and Scanlon delivered the big blow with a two-run single into the right-field corner.
Sanford took a first-inning lead after left fielder Jack Toomey (Boston College) lined a two-out RBI single to left, scoring second baseman Zack Kent (Binghamton). The score remained 1-0 until the seventh when shortstop Blake Schaaf (Georgetown) knocked an infield single, stole second and scored on a base hit by designated hitter Luke Stevens (UNC Greensboro).
North Shore’s relief pitching did well to keep the one-run scoreline for the majority of the game. St. John’s Prep grad Sam Belliveau (UMass) and Swampscott native Pierce Friedman (Maine) each chipped in with an inning of scoreless relief, with McNaught having covered the two frames between them.
Sanford made it a 6-3 game on first baseman Kyle Douin’s (Southern Maine) two-out RBI single in the ninth, but Ryan Griffin (Northeastern) worked around the hit and the unearned run to save the Navs’ victory.
The Navs make their second trip to Connecticut this summer on Thursday to take on the Bristol Blues. First pitch from historic Muzzy Field is set for 6:30 p.m.
