KEENE, N.H. (July 23, 2025) 一 The Keene SwampBats hit a pair of two-run home runs in the middle innings and never looked back, going on to defeat the visiting North Shore Navigators 8-1 in Wednesday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League action at Alumni Field.

North Shore fell to 14-22 as a result of its fourth consecutive loss, while Keene improved its league-best record to 28-12 with a sixth win in a row and fourth in the six-game head-to-head season series.

First baseman Alex Marot (Charleston Southern) scored the Navs’ run on an RBI single by third baseman Davis Baker (Penn) in the fourth inning.

After North Shore starter Cole Yennaco (Merrimack) worked out of a two-on jam to finish a scoreless first inning, shortstop Connor Peek (Georgetown) dropped a two-out RBI single into shallow right in the second to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

The Navs’ first two hits led to a game-tying run in the top of the fourth, as Marot lined a one-out double inside the first-base bag and into the right-field corner before scoring on Baker’s single up the middle. Keene starter Aydan Decker-Petty (Liberty) retired back-to-back batters thereafter to strand the go-ahead run on third.

Keene grabbed the lead back on two-out, two-run homers in each of its next two at-bats. First baseman Chandler Tuupo (Charleston Southern) made it a 3-1 game in the third before left fielder Michael O’Brien (Arkansas-Little Rock) extended the lead with another two-run shot over the right-center field wall.

Second baseman Conor Moriarty (Bowdoin) and shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) helped the North Shore defense turn four double plays, but the offense was unable to get any closer. Moriarty lined a two-out single to left in the eighth for the Navs’ third hit.

The Bats concluded the scoring on designated hitter Ripken Reese’s (Kent State) three-run shot in the eighth.

Yennaco worked 4.2 innings in his second start of the summer before Gus Magill (Cornell) stranded two runners on base to end the fifth. Sean Zaslaw (Bryant) then continued his outstanding summer with two shutout, two-hit innings of relief, keeping him unscored upon through 14.2 innings in eight appearances.

The Navs begin a full weekend of action at Fraser Field on Friday when they host the Upper Valley Nighthawks for the final time this summer. The teams will complete a suspended game from July 17 in White River Junction, Vt., at 4:15 p.m. before playing their regularly scheduled contest at 6:05 p.m.