MONTPELIER, VT 一 The North Shore Navigators rallied to bring the tying run to the plate in the top of the eighth inning, but fell to the host Vermont Mountaineers 7-4 in Friday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Montpelier Recreation Field.
North Shore lost for only the second time in a seven-game span and had a three-game winning streak end as it fell to 14-19, while Vermont improved to 12-24 following its first win in six games.
Four of the Navs’ five hits went for doubles, including one by catcher Aukai Kea (Vanderbilt) which produced an RBI. Shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) had a hit, an RBI and scored a run. Kea and Rickheim both reached base three times.
Vermont never trailed after scoring its five first-inning runs on six hits and taking advantage of three errors behind Colin Dowdle (Holy Cross), who was North Shore’s starting pitcher as an opener. Lexington native Liam Kinneen (Princeton) settled in from there, striking out a season-high six batters while allowing just four hits and two runs in 5.1 innings.
After first baseman Jaylen Hernandez (Winthrop) drove home the first run of Vermont’s big inning on a one-out single, the hosts crossed the plate twice on successful double steals and punctuated the inning with second baseman Cristian Reyna’s (Messiah) line-drive RBI single to center with two outs.
Kinneen took the mound to close the first inning in officially his first relief appearance of the summer, striking out the first three batters he faced and retiring the first five in a row overall.
North Shore was then able to crack the scoreboard in the fourth. Center fielder Nater Wachter (UConn) reached on a fielding error before a failed pickoff advanced him into scoring position. After Vermont starter Jerek Hobb (Gardner-Webb) retired the next two, Kea knocked a two-out RBI double to right to start the scoring.
Vermont got the run right back on Hernandez’s two-out RBI single a half-inning later. The damage was limited, though, as Wachter made an over-the-shoulder catch on a ball hit to deep center by right fielder Sam Gates (George Washington).
In North Shore’s fifth, designated hitter Jesse Jaconski (Penn State) struck a leadoff double to left and reached third on Rickheim’s single to left, but Hobb struck out back-to-back batters to strand two.
The Navs cut into their deficit again in the seventh, tagging Vermont reliever Jason Pinsonnault (Western New England) for a pair of two-out runs. After Rickheim was hit by a pitch, Parks jumpstarted the offense with a double inside the first-base bag. The two runs scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball within Wachter’s plate appearance.
First baseman Alex Marot (Charleston Southern) led off the North Shore eighth with a double to center, and after Kea was hit by a pitch and both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Rickheim earned a bases-loaded RBI as he was plunked for the second time in as many innings. Then, Vermont closer Logan Magdits (Fairleigh Dickinson) induced a fly ball to escape the threat.
Following Kinneen, Simmi Whitehill (Monmouth) and Jackson Powers (Saint Anselm) made hitless and scoreless pitching debuts for the Navs. Whitehill got through his inning with the help of third baseman Davis Baker (Penn) catching a hard-hit line drive to start a double play.
On the Vermont side, Hobb gave up just one unearned run on three hits and struck out six through the first six innings to earn the victory. Third baseman Dominic Camera (Fairfield) and designated hitter Foster Apple (Stetson) each had multiple hits.
After spending back-to-back nights in the Green Mountain State, the Navs return home to play their final game before the NECBL All-Star Game against the North Division-leading Keene SwampBats on Saturday. First pitch is at 5:05 p.m. from Fraser Field.
