LYNN, Mass. — The Mystic Schooners cruised to an 8-1 victory over the North Shore Navigators in Sunday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League action at Fraser Field.

North Shore lost its second consecutive game to slip to 4-4 on the season, while Mystic moved ahead in the tight Coastal Division standings at 6-5.

“Sometimes your best learning moments come from getting beat like (this),” manager Bob Macaluso said of the loss. “We just have to regroup and keep working and we'll get better.”

The Schooners scored five runs in the second inning and never looked back.

With one out and the bases loaded, North Shore Owen Tross (Middlebury) sought to pitch his way out of a jam for the second consecutive inning. He needed to produce a ground ball and did just that, but Cody Miller (East Tennessee State) beat the throw to first base, leaving everyone safe on the basepaths and setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Tross, who allowed just three baserunners in three innings during his first outing, started the game strong with a four-pitch strikeout before the Schooners broke through.

“I thought his velocity looked (good),” Macaluso said of Tross' performance. “It's not all about velocity though, and we're certainly going to have to get better starting pitching moving forward.”

After pitching his way out of a first-inning jam, Tross was unable to get out of a bases-loaded, one-out scenario with one out as a pair of hits from Miller and Anthony DePino (Rhode Island) gave the Schooners a 4-0 lead.

The Schooners continued to score in the following inning as Christian Scanlon's (Merrimack) second base hit ballooned the lead to 6-0, contributing to his 3-for-4 day with an RBI. 

In the eighth, an error allowed DePino to score from second base and give Mystic an 8-0 lead.

Schooners righty Connor Harris (Winthrop) featured impeccable command, frequently inducing weak contact from North Shore hitters en route to 5.1 scoreless innings.

In the eighth inning, the Navigators avoided being shut out for the first time this season on a sacrifice fly to left field from Tim McGuire (Sacred Heart).

North Shore was limited to six hits, including doubles by Brady Dever (Brown) and Danny MacDougall (Endicott). Dever scored the lone run. Reece Moroney (Rhode Island) also marked the hit column and has reached base in seven consecutive games.

The Navigators will look to get back in the win column on Monday when they travel to Rhode Island to take on the Newport Gulls at 6:35 p.m. from Cardines Field.