LYNN, Mass. — Four members of the North Shore Navigators have earned New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) postseason accolades, as the league unveiled its 2024 All-NECBL teams on Friday afternoon.

Leading North Shore’s contingent, left-hander Will Jones (Northeastern) is one of three starting pitchers named to the All-NECBL First Team. The Hamilton native was the league’s top statistical starter throughout the regular season, pitching to a league-best 0.76 ERA and allowing just 20 hits, three walks and striking out 37 across his 35.1 innings. Alongside the top qualifying ERA in the NECBL since 2014, Jones also led the circuit in strikeout-to-walk ratio and WHIP (0.65) while holding opponents to a minuscule .157 average during his second summer as a Navigator. 

Jones worked at least five innings in six of his seven starts and did not allow more than one earned run in any of them, capping the summer with a season-high eight strikeouts in 5.2 shutout innings on July 24 against the Upper Valley Nighthawks. Jones, who was the starting and winning pitcher for the East Division in the July 21 NECBL All-Star Game in Bristol, Conn., is the second Navigator in as many summers to earn All-NECBL First Team honors after then-Ohio State shortstop Henry Kaczmar was named to the top squad in 2023.

The North Shore staff also boasted the NECBL’s top strikeout pitcher in Truman Pauley (Harvard), who was given All-NECBL Second Team status. Pauley followed up his solid collegiate debut by totaling the second-most strikeouts in the Navs’ NECBL history with 46 and recorded a 2.07 ERA in 26 innings this summer. Opponents hit just .189 against him. Five of the All-Star right-hander’s nine appearances were starts, including an 11-strikeout performance on July 2 against the Mystic Schooners. He also fanned eight over four shutout innings on two occasions, helping the Navs to best the two-time defending NECBL champion Newport Gulls in the latter game on July 25.

Outfielder Kyle Jones (Florida) and pitcher Ryan Buckler (Florida Atlantic) were both named to the All-NECBL Honorable Mention Team. 

Jones hit .269 with two doubles, one triple, a team-best 16 RBI, and 12 runs scored in 29 games. He also walked more than he struck out en route to posting a .402 on-base percentage, all while playing errorless defense in center field. After arriving to the North Shore as the Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year at Stetson, Jones heated up near season’s end as the NECBL Week 7 Player of the Week following a six-game run over which he was 10-for-22 with eight RBI. After driving in five runs in a July 8 win over the Bristol Blues, his award-winning week included a 4-for-5 performance with four RBI on July 18 against the Ocean State Waves.

Buckler also enjoyed a standout season on the mound for North Shore, compiling a 1.90 ERA that was tied for second-best among league qualifiers. Throwing a team-high 38 innings across his 12 appearances (six starts), the righty from Marstons Mills struck out 36 and limited opposing batters to a .182 average. He allowed just one hit and was unscored upon in seven innings of relief to begin the season before joining the rotation and posting a 1.28 ERA over his last five starts, including a pair of six-inning scoreless outings against Coastal Division rivals in Newport and the Mystic Schooners. Buckler held Mystic to just two hits and struck out eight on July 14.

The Navigators will return to Fraser Field in June of 2025. Stay up to date on the latest Navs news all year long by visiting nsnavs.com and following the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.