Photo via YouTube/Sam Murray

LYNN, Mass. -- The North Shore Navigators made a key addition to their pitching staff just past the halfway mark of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League season as Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year and recent Boston Red Sox draftee Sebastian Keane has officially joined the team.

Keane is expected to make his Navigators debut during Friday’s doubleheader against the Westfield Starfires at Bullens Field in Westfield, Mass. He will start the second seven-inning game, which is tentatively scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

The Northeastern University commit just completed his senior season at North Andover High School, helping the Scarlet Knights win their first-ever Super 8 championship as an undefeated No. 8 seed. He went 11-1 with a 0.50 ERA and struck out 128 batters in 70 innings this spring, capping off the tournament with three scoreless frames against St. John’s Prep in the championship game.

In the midst of his team’s state title run last month, the Red Sox made Keane their 11th-round draft selection. He was the No. 347 overall pick. As a result, the 6-foot-3 righty becomes the Navs’ highest-ever Major League Baseball draftee to join the team after being selected in the same year.

Keane is also the second former Navs pitcher from North Andover to earn Eagle-Tribune Player of the Year honors, joining Franklin Pierce’s Evan Glew. The left-hander spent parts of two summers with the Navs (2016-17) after earning the Merrimack Valley newspaper’s honor in 2015 and then first attending Northern Essex Community College.