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Grand Slams, Postseason Heroics Catapult Navs to Successful Week in College![]() Until the North Shore Navigators assemble at Fraser Field to begin the 2024 New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) season in early June, the team will be highlighting its incoming players’ top performances each week on nsnavs.com and social media. Below is the 11th installment of the Navs' College Baseball Report, which will appear weekly on Mondays. LYNN, Mass. — Strong performances in postseason contests combined with a power surge highlighted the latest week of college action for incoming members of the North Shore Navigators. Two returning Navs posted solid weekends at the plate as catcher Matt Chatelle (Merrimack) headlined the slugging group, going 3-for-9 with two home runs and seven RBI over the course of a Northeast Conference series victory against LIU. Chatelle hit a grand slam and drove in five during Saturday’s 16-9 win and was also hit by a pitch while coming around to score three times across the final two games of the series. Infielder Brendan Jones (Holy Cross) led off his week with a 2-for-5 performance against Brown and Lafayette, scoring twice and driving home another runner in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of the Leopards. Danny MacDougall (Endicott) rounded out the Gulls’ regular season with another blistering performance, going 7-for-19 with three RBI on the week. MacDougall had two multi-hit games against MIT, going 2-for-3 on Wednesday and 2-for-4 on Sunday, totaling three RBI, four runs scored and four walks. He also stole 10 bases for the Gulls, bringing his team-leading total to 38 steals on the season. MacDougall also holds the team lead in runs with 39 and sits second in on-base percentage at .523. On the pitching mound, returning Nav Sawyer Duarte (Middlebury) racked up seven strikeouts over 5.1 innings against Trinity (Conn.) in the opening round of the NESCAC Tournament on Sunday. Duarte’s performance was his second straight and fourth this season with at least seven strikeouts. Another Panther who racked up the strikeouts was Owen Tross, tossing eight in a five-inning outing against the Bantams to set a new career-high mark. Tross has fanned at least a handful of batters six times this season. Peabody native and former St. John’s Prep left-hander Ryan Bradley (Bryant) provided two innings of shutdown relief on Saturday against NJIT. Bradley allowed just two hits while striking out two Highlander hitters, marking his second consecutive and fourth overall relief outing this season with multiple strikeouts. Three of those performances have been scoreless. Fellow reliever Zane Coppersmith (Stetson) kept his scoreless streak rolling to seven straight games after pitching another 3.1 innings without allowing a run over the weekend. Coppersmith got things started with three strikeouts over two innings on Friday, allowing just one Austin Peay hit en route to his third save of the season. Coppersmith then held down the fort for 1.1 innings of relief on Sunday, bringing his scoreless streak to 9.2 innings across seven games, with two saves and 12 strikeouts since April 19. Wednesday was kind to two Navs pitchers, including Anthony Ehly (Seton Hall) who struck out three over four innings of one-run ball against Hofstra in his fifth start of the season. Jack Volo (Georgetown) allowed just one hit in a scoreless inning against George Mason. Volo has pitched six times without issuing a walk and another six that were scoreless. Caden Rothbaum (Binghamton) worked out of the Bearcats’ bullpen in a third consecutive midweek game, getting an inning of shutout baseball against Cornell on Wednesday. Rothbaum struck out one Big Red hitter while allowing just one hit and no walks, as he has produced a strikeout in each of his last four outings and pitched shutout ball three times on the season. Infielder Mason Dobie (Dayton) helped spark the Flyers to an Atlantic 10 series win against Richmond, going 5-for-12 with three doubles and two walks. Dobie punctuated his weekend with a 4-for-5 performance on Sunday, scoring twice and putting up two doubles in a 6-3 win. Dobie’s scorching weekend brought his average up to .286, while he currently sits tied for fourth on the team in doubles with eight. Reece Moroney (Rhode Island) recorded three RBI and drew four walks as part of a 3-for-6 performance over the Rams’ final two games against Davidson. Moroney came around to score four times across the weekend, including twice on Sunday as part of a 2-for-3 day in an 8-6 win over the Wildcats. He also stole two bases to bring his team-leading total to 15, alongside 28 walks. Kyle Jones (Stetson) went 2-for-5 as part of a strong showing for the Hatters on Saturday against Austin Peay. The first-year outfielder drove in his 25th RBI of the season, scored a run of his own and netted a double as part of his performance, while also accruing his team-best 21st stolen base of the season on Friday. The Navigators will return to historic Fraser Field and the NECBL for their 17th summer season in 2024, with first pitch set for Tuesday, June 4. Stay up to date on the latest Navs news — including further updates on current and former players — by visiting nsnavs.com and following the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. |
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