LYNN — The North Shore Navigators handed the first-place Keene SwampBats back-to-back losses for the first time in the New England Collegiate Baseball League season, posting 3-2 and 6-2 wins in a Sunday doubleheader at Fraser Field.
North Shore improved to 8-14 while extending its first win streak of the summer to three games. Keene, which entered the day with a six-game lead in the North Division, fell to 16-6.
Catcher/designated hitter Aukai Kea (Vanderbilt) went 3-for-6 with two RBI across the two games, including multiple hits in the opener. Jack Gold (Pomona-Pitzer) started in left field in game two and went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.
The Navs round out their four-game homestand and conclude the opening month of the season on Monday night against the North Adams SteepleCats. First pitch at Fraser Field is set for 6:05 p.m.
Game 1: North Shore 3, Keene 2
North Shore rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits en route to a walk-off win, as pinch-hitting outfielder Michael Perazza (Florida Atlantic) knocked a line-drive single into the right-center gap with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh. Relief pitcher Colin Dowdle (Holy Cross) stranded two runners on base with consecutive pop flies to end the previous half-inning, setting the stage for the RBI opportunity and earning his team-leading second win.
Before Perazza’s game-winning RBI, left fielder Jesse Jaconski (Penn State) knocked a one-out single to left. Pinch runner Brooks Wright (Southeastern Louisiana) stole second and third, with shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) drawing a walk to load the bases in between.
The walk-off win was North Shore’s first since July 28, 2024 when Pat D’Amico (Bryant) hit a 10th-inning sacrifice fly against the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks, capping the team’s comeback from a 7-0 deficit.
Keene grabbed a first-inning lead when right fielder Jack Herring (East Carolina) scored on an error following first baseman Chandler Tuupo’s (Charleston Southern) fielder’s choice grounder, but North Shore starter Liam Kinneen (Princeton) induced double plays to end each of the next two innings and allowed his offense to come back and tie the game.
The Navs evened the score in the fourth, beginning with catcher Aidan Sengenberger (Seton Hall) and second baseman Conor Moriarty (Bowdoin) hitting back-to-back leadoff singles. An error following Moriarty’s bunt to the right side brought Sengenberger to third, and he scored as right fielder Sam Parks (Stonehill) beat out a fielder’s choice grounder to short.
In the fourth, Keene’s Tuupo scored another go-ahead run on catcher Zack Thompson’s (Gardner-Webb) RBI grounder to third before the hosts squared the score again as first baseman Alex Marot (Charleston Southern) cranked a leadoff double to center and scored on Kea’s base hit through the right side.
Kinneen allowed two runs (one earned) across the first four frames, working around three hits and six walks. Stefano Yozzo (Middlebury) pitched a season-high two innings scoreless, striking out one while allowing just one base hit.
Game 2: North Shore 6, Keene 2
After Keene scored the opening run on second baseman Ty Mainolfi’s (Boston College) first-inning sac fly to right, the Navs scored three runs in the first and two in the second to build a lead that they would never relinquish. While Gold’s three-hit performance led the way, six teammates also recorded hits en route to a nine-hit performance for the offense.
The five runs across the opening two frames were more than enough support for left-handed starter John Whitney (Samford), who worked five innings of two-run ball for the victory. Gus Magill (Cornell) worked the final two innings to finish the sweep, pitching scoreless ball while stranding two hits.
North Shore stormed back to take the lead in the bottom of the first, as Gold began a string of three straight hits to start the game against Keene starter John Malone (Winthrop) with a leadoff double inside the left-field line.
Center fielder Ethan Wilson (Winthrop) followed Gold with a single up the middle, and third baseman Davis Baker (Penn) drove home the first run with a knock to right. Kea provided the go-ahead RBI on a single to left two batters later before designated hitter Sean Scanlon (Holy Cross) drove a deep sac fly towards the center-field batter’s eye.
In the second, consecutive one-out singles by second baseman Simmi Whitehill (Monmouth) and Gold set the stage for more Navs offense. Both runners moved into scoring position on a double steal, with an attempt to cut the lead runner Whitehill down at third base getting away. With Gold moving to third, Wilson hit a 6-3 grounder to score another run.
Mainolfi brought Keene back within a run on a two-out RBI single in the third. Catcher Ripken Reese (Kent State) led off the inning with a triple and scored.
North Shore concluded the scoring in the fourth, as first baseman Jackson Powers (Saint Anselm) scored on a wild pitch after reaching base on a fielder’s choice bunt and going first-to-third on Gold’s single.
Whitney faced just one batter over the minimum across his last two innings before Magill took over, completing his latter frame by starting a 1-4-3 double play with Whitehill to end the game.
