KEENE, N.H. -- The North Shore Navigators racked up a season-high 16 hits, three home runs and turned the scoreboard in five of their nine innings at the plate on the way to a 13-4 win over the host Keene SwampBats in Wednesday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Alumni Field.

North Shore improved to 10-14 on the season, curbing its three-game skid and completing a home-and-home season sweep of Keene. 

Eleven different Navs batters recorded hits, including shortstop Henry Kaczmar (Ohio State) who went 4-for-6 with an RBI and three runs scored. Catcher Matt Chatelle (Merrimack) highlighted a 3-for-5 night with a grand slam during the team’s key seven-run third inning, while first baseman Tanner Zellem (Tennessee) and designated hitter Jackson Hornung (Kansas State) also left the yard.

Left-hander Evan Blanco (Virginia) pitched four innings of one-run ball and struck out four in his first start of the summer. Kaden Humphrey (Stetson) earned the victory in relief, allowing just one hit over scoreless seventh and eighth frames.

North Shore drew first blood as Hornung ripped the first pitch of the second inning over the left-field fence for his first homer, but Keene responded with a game-tying run in the bottom half on a balk after left fielder Blake DeLamielleure (Jacksonville) hit a one-out double and catcher Greg Bozzo (Northeastern) followed with a single.

After Blanco stranded a runner in scoring position with two strikeouts to end the second inning, the Navs’ offense broke the game wide open as 12 batters came to the plate and brought across seven runs on seven hits in the third. 

Kaczmar and center fielder Evan Griffis (Stetson) opened up the big inning with consecutive one-out singles before first baseman Brandon Drapeau (Saint Joseph’s) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Hornung drew a walk that forced in a run and ended the outing of Keene starter Cole Stallings (Stetson).

With Alec Ritch (Middlebury) in for relief, left fielder Stan DeMartinis III (Bentley) ripped an RBI single deep into the shortstop hole and Chatelle delivered the big blow in the form of a grand slam to left-center. Chatelle became the first Navs batter to hit a grand slam since fellow Austin Prep product Logan Bravo (Harvard) on July 21, 2021 against Sanford.

The line kept moving with right fielder Jake McElroy (Holy Cross) dropping a single into shallow center and third baseman Jake Berger (Harvard) knocking a base hit of his own just inside the line in right. Kaczmar capped the inning’s scoring with a single through the right side that allowed McElroy to score from second.

North Shore reliever Sawyer Duarte (Middlebury) worked around a leadoff infield single and struck out two to get out of the fourth, but he ran into some trouble as a single and hit batter started the fifth. With one out, Keene got back on the board on back-to-back base hits by right fielder Devin Taylor (Indiana) and first baseman Garrett Rice (Missouri Southern State). 

The Navs got both runs back while benefiting from two hits and an error in the sixth. Berger drew his second leadoff walk of the game, moved across the diamond when Kaczmar ripped a single into right and scored on Griffis’ sacrifice fly into deep foul territory at first. Drapeau reached on an infield single in the next at-bat, and a subsequent error allowed Kaczmar to cross the plate.

In Keene’s sixth, third baseman Evan Goforth (Indiana) hit a run-scoring grounder to first to get the hosts back on the board, but the Navs got out of the threat when Brendan Jones (Holy Cross) made a diving stop at second base to end the threat.

Kaczmar’s leadoff single set the table for Zellem’s two-run homer -- his first of the season -- launched to deep left in the North Shore eighth. 

After being subbed in for DeMartinis late in the game, Peter Messervy (Harvard) led off the ninth with a double to center. Chatelle followed with an infield single, and Berger’s sac fly to right two batters later concluded the scoring.

Humphrey and Nick Davis (Northeastern) pitched scoreless ball over the final three innings out of the Navs bullpen. Davis struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth.

The Navs complete their three-game road trip Thursday against the Mystic Schooners. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at Senator Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium in Norwich, Conn. The team’s return to Fraser Field comes Friday when the Ocean State Waves visit for a 7:05 p.m. game.