OAK BLUFFS, Mass. -- The North Shore Navigators could not complete a home-and-home sweep of their Coastal Division rival Martha’s Vineyard Sharks as they took a 4-1 loss in Saturday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at The Shark Tank on the campus of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

North Shore slipped to 9-12 on the season, losing for only the second time in a seven-game span. Martha’s Vineyard moved back within a game of fourth place in the division race with an 8-13 record.

Shortstop Henry Kaczmar (Ohio State) and designated hitter Tanner Zellem (Tennessee) were each 2-for-4 to lead the Navs offense. Second baseman Brendan Jones (Holy Cross) drove in Kaczmar with the only North Shore run on a grounder in the sixth inning.

North Shore starter Nate Espelin (Dayton) struck out five over the first four of his 5.2 total innings. The southpaw scattered eight hits and allowed three earned runs after stranding multiple runners on base in each of the first two innings.

After two Sharks were stranded in the first inning, the hosts took a 1-0 lead during the following frame after shortstop Nolan Nawrocki’s (Clemson) two-out double inside the left-field line. Espelin began the inning with a pair of strikeouts and finished it with a groundout, which started a stretch of eight consecutive batters retired that spanned into the fifth.

In the fifth, Martha’s Vineyard doubled its lead when Nawrocki hit a one-out single, advanced on a ground ball and scored as center fielder Nathan Hall (Clemson) ripped a base hit to left. A fielding error allowed Hall to reach second, but Espelin induced a fly ball to end the threat.

The Navs manufactured a sixth-inning run to cut the Vineyard lead in half. Kaczmar led off the frame with a single up the middle before left fielder Stan DeMartinis III (Bentley) reached on a fly ball that his Vineyard counterpart Caden Shapiro (Princeton) dropped. 

With the first two aboard, catcher Jackson Hornung (Kansas State) dropped down a sacrifice bunt to bring both runners into scoring position. Jones followed with a run-scoring grounder to second.

The Sharks extended their lead with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. After third baseman Michael Snyder (Washington) singled and designated hitter Carsten Sabathia (Georgia Tech) walked to begin the inning, second baseman Generoso Romano (Duke) hit a one-out RBI single two batters later. Right fielder Kaden Martin (Miami) added a sac fly to left.

North Shore got something going to begin the eighth as third baseman Jake Berger (Harvard) drew his second walk and Kaczmar followed with a single, but reliever Michael Ebner (USC) retired the last six consecutive batters to record the save.

After Espelin exited the game, fellow left-hander Ryan Bradley (Bryant) struck out two in 1.1 innings and Croix Jenkins (NJIT) pitched a scoreless eighth that included a strikeout of his own. The pair of North Shore relievers did not allow a hit over the final 2.1 frames.

Former Navigator and Oak Bluffs native James Sashin (San Diego) got the start and held North Shore in check through five innings to post the victory. Sashin allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out nine, fanning the side to erase two-out doubles by DeMartinis and Zellem in the first two frames, respectively.

Nawrocki went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, while Romano and Hall each had two hits for the Sharks.

North Shore concludes a stretch of four home games in a five-game span when the Newport Gulls visit Fraser Field for a 5:05 p.m. first pitch on Sunday evening. Following the game, the Navs will play three straight on the road starting Monday night with a short trip north to face the Sanford Mainers at Goodall Park.