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Navs This Week: Plenty of Home Cooking Ahead

07/28/2020 7:59 AM

LYNN, Mass. -- The North Shore Navigators will look to bounce back in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League standings as they play four straight games at Fraser Field to begin the upcoming week.

There is plenty of opportunity to make up some ground over the upcoming stretch of games as all of the next nine contests come against the Westfield Starfires, Nashua Silver Knights and Brockton Rox, who are the three teams standing between the Navs and first-place Worcester Bravehearts in the standings.

COMING FROM BEHIND
▪ North Shore started last week’s FCBL action on a high note on Tuesday at Fraser Field, breaking out for a six-run ninth inning en route to a 9-6 win over Brockton.
▪ Outfielder Ryan Cervone’s (Northeastern) three-run triple was one of the team’s five hits in the big inning and turned out to be the game-winner. Cervone also hit a three-run home run during the team’s exhibition game against the Northeast Yankees Scout Team a night earlier.
▪ Following the late offensive surge, Marblehead native Beau Dana (Dickinson) came in from the bullpen and slammed the door for his league-leading fifth save in six outings this season.
▪ On Saturday, infielder Logan Bravo (Harvard) hit a game-tying single in the eighth inning against the Rox, but the Navs ultimately fell in the first FCBL “Home Run Derby Wins It” tiebreaker of the season following the 10th inning.

RECORD NIGHT
▪ Despite dropping Saturday’s 6-5 decision to Brockton, the Navs’ pitching staff set a new franchise record for a FCBL game with 19 strikeouts.
▪ Starter Evan Christopulos (Bentley) fanned nine batters over the first four innings and now leads the team with 18 K’s in 10 frames on the season.
Peter Sakellaris (Virginia Tech), Luke Marshall (Stonehill) and Griffin Green (Virginia Tech) all worked out of the bullpen in that game. Green’s four strikeouts over the final 2.2 frames helped send the game into a Home Run Derby.

BRAVO!
▪ Bravo has been one of North Shore’s hottest hitters all season long, but 11 of his 13 total RBI have come during his current nine-game hitting streak.
▪ The Andover native has a .412 average, two doubles, two home runs and five multi-hit games over the course of the league’s second-longest active streak.
▪ All told, Bravo has a league-leading 25 hits and ranks in a tie for second in the league with a .368 average this season.

SETTING THE PACE
▪ The Navs lead the FCBL in average (.278) and on-base percentage (.389) while ranking second in runs scored (107) and hits (166) over their first 18 games.
▪ Bravo and second baseman Jonathan Luders (Seton Hall) are among the league’s qualifying hitters. The Lynnfield native Luders ranks in a tie for seventh with his .333 average after hitting safely in four of his last five games.
▪ Infielder Cody Morissette (Boston College) ranks second in the FCBL with 19 RBI.
▪ Outfielder Ben Malgeri (Northeastern) is the league leader in runs scored (20) and triples (4), while his six stolen bases are good for the team lead.
Sal Frelick (Boston College) hit safely in the first eight games of the season and sports a team-leading .424 average, but he has been sidelined for the last two weeks due to injury.
▪ No Navs player had posted a season-opening streak of that length since Frelick hit in the first 11 games of his North Shore career in 2018.

THE WEEK AHEAD
▪ The Navs’ schedule is a bit lighter this week as they have Thursday off following home games against Westfield and Nashua on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
▪ The Silver Knights are slated to return to Fraser Field on Friday before the month of August begins with Brockton paying another visit a night later.
▪ On Sunday, the Navs will travel to Brockton for their second doubleheader of the season.

MAKING CHANGES
▪ The Navs won’t be on the road until Sunday when they travel to Brockton for a 3 p.m. doubleheader to make up for the July 17 rainout at Campanelli Stadium.
▪ North Shore and Nashua will play make-up games on Wednesday, August 5 at Fraser Field and Monday, August 10 at Historic Holman Stadium. Both games are set to begin at 6 p.m.
▪ The August 5 game will be preceded by the Futures League’s Scout Day for the two teams, which was originally scheduled to be held in Nashua.

FOLLOW AND WATCH
▪ Stay up to date on the latest Navs news by visiting nsnavs.com and following the team’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
▪ Watch the Navs all season long on the FCBL Network powered by BlueFrame Technology. Visit fcblnetwork.com to purchase a single-game pass for $8 or an All-Access Pass to every FCBL game this summer for $99.