LYNN, Mass. (July 15, 2025) 一 The North Shore Navigators secured their second home doubleheader sweep of the summer with 2-1 and 2-0 victories over the Vermont Mountaineers in New England Collegiate Baseball League action on Tuesday at Fraser Field.
North Shore has now won four of its last five games to improve to 13-18, while Vermont has dropped to 11-23 during a four-game skid which includes three losses to the Navs.
First baseman Alex Marot (Charleston Southern) and third baseman Davis Baker (Penn) each hit safely in both games. Marot broke a 1-1 tie with an eventual game-winning solo home run to deep right-center field in the sixth inning of the opener, lifting Bob Macaluso to his 100th career victory as the Navs’ field manager.
North Shore has now allowed two runs or fewer in 10 games this season, including each of the last five. Starting pitchers Trey Yesu (Bridgewater State) and Zach Kittrell (Alabama) were the winners. Yesu pitched 5.1 no-hit innings to begin the game one start before Kittrell started a shutout in the nightcap with six strikeouts across four innings of scoreless, two-hit ball.
The Navs continue their heavy North Division stretch when they hit the road for a Thursday doubleheader against the Upper Valley Nighthawks in White River Junction, Vt. First pitch at Maxfield Sports Complex is set for 4 p.m.
Game 1: North Shore 2, Vermont 1
The Navs took a 1-0 lead in the second when center fielder Nater Wachter (UConn) knocked a two-out RBI single up the middle. Right fielder Jackson Powers (Saint Anselm) reached on the second fielder’s choice grounder of the inning and stole second before coming across with the opening run on Wachter’s hit.
Yesu worked well with the cushion en route to his first win of the season, retiring the first 11 batters he faced and carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning of the seven-inning game.
The first Vermont hit led to the game-tying run in the sixth, as shortstop Matthew Minckler (Delaware) bunted a one-out single and reached second on a subsequent throwing error. Left fielder Joey Pagano’s (Saint Joseph’s) two-out RBI double made it a 1-1 game.
Marot’s solo blast quickly changed the score when the inning flipped, setting up North Andover native Ryan Griffin (Northeastern) to post his second save after working around a two-out hit. Wachter opened the inning with a highlight catch, sprinting to the wall in the right-center gap to rob an extra-base hit from Vermont right fielder Sam Gates (George Washington).
Game 2: North Shore 2, Vermont 0
The Navs scored the only run they needed in the top of the first, which saw designated hitter Sam Parks (Stonehill) draw a leadoff walk, advance to second on Wachter’s grounder and score on a Marot single to left.
North Shore made it a 2-0 game in the second, as Baker knocked a leadoff double to right and scored a few batters later as shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) reached on a fielding error.
The two runs proved to be more than enough support for Kittrell, who has now thrown 13.1 innings without allowing an earned run this summer. The NECBL All-Star righty worked around a pair of third-inning baserunners to strike out the side as part of a scoreless outing in his first start.
Stefano Yozzo (Middlebury), Colin Dowdle (Holy Cross) and Swampscott native Pierce Friedman (Maine) each tossed a scoreless inning to finish the game. Friedman has now earned a save in back-to-back appearances.