LYNN, Mass. -- The Winnipesaukee Muskrats scored four runs in the middle innings on their way to a 7-3 win over the North Shore Navigators in Friday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) action at Fraser Field.

First baseman Connor Bertsch (Dartmouth) was North Shore’s offensive star, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run that cut the team’s deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

The Muskrats jumped out to a first-inning lead as second baseman Patrick Roche (Boston College) hit a one-out single to score third baseman Matthew Alifano (Adelphi) following a leadoff single. In the third, Alifano drew a one-out walk and scored Winnipesaukee’s second run on an error.

Bertsch got the Navs on the board with a solo homer to left-center field in the bottom of the fourth. Muskrat starter Adam Maher (UMass Dartmouth) stranded North Shore baserunners in two of the first innings before the hosts got on the scoreboard.

Winnipesaukee broke the game open with a pair of consecutive two-run innings, highlighted by Alifano’s two-run single in the fifth. The visitors concluded their scoring on a Roche sacrifice fly in the seventh.

North Shore got two runs back over the late innings. Right fielder Stan DeMartinis (Bryant) started the seventh inning with a one-out walk, stole second and scored on pinch-hitting infielder Trace Willhoite’s (Lipscomb) RBI single. 

In the ninth, second baseman Ty Dooley (Radford) ripped a leadoff triple into the left-field corner and crossed the plate on a DeMartinis sac fly to center.

Navs southpaw J.D. Ogden (Columbia) suffered the loss after allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits in five innings. Peyton Heisner (Merrimack) and Packy Bradley-Cooney (CCBC Essex) finished the night with scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

Alifano went 3-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored to lead the Muskrats.

The Navs return to the road for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch against the Bristol Blues on Saturday night at Muzzy Field. Following the trip to Connecticut, four of the team’s six games will be played at Fraser Field beginning at 6:35 p.m. Monday against the Mystic Schooners.