SANFORD, Maine 一 The North Shore Navigators were unable to post their third consecutive win, falling to the Sanford Mainers 8-1 in Friday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League action at Goodall Park.

North Shore moved to 13-21 on the summer, while Sanford is 19-17 following its fourth consecutive win.

Left fielder Danny MacDougall (Endicott) doubled and came across to score the Navigators’ lone run in the third inning, giving him a four-game hit streak and extra-base hits in consecutive contests. Center fielder Kyle Jones (Florida) had the team’s lone RBI.

North Shore was retired in six batters through the first two frames, but got the scoring started on a Jones sacrifice fly in the third. MacDougall knocked a one-out double into the left-center gap to get the offense started and advanced to third on a balk before crossing the plate.

After Gloucester native Zach Morris (Rhode Island) worked out of a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout in the second inning of his second start this summer, Sanford put together a four-run third on three hits to take the lead for the first time and never looked back. 

Mainers left fielder Caleb Shpur (UConn) and center fielder Jackson Tucker (St. John’s) hit back-to-back singles to lead off the third inning, which continued with two errors leading to runs, an RBI single by first baseman Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) and a sacrifice fly by third baseman Mateo Hernandez (Austin Peay).

Jack Volo (Georgetown) recorded the final two outs of the third out of North Shore’s bullpen, but a hit batter and a walk to start Sanford’s fourth produced two more runs in the persons of Shpur and Tucker that upped the score to 6-1. 

The Navs got a solid two innings of scoreless relief from Justin Posnik (Bentley), putting up his second zero with the help of third baseman Tim McGuire’s (Sacred Heart) strong relay throw to cut second baseman Jared Davis (Virginia Tech) down trying to stretch his two-out single into a double in the fifth.

Shpur singled, stole second and third, and scored the seventh Sanford run on a Tucker grounder to a diving North Shore second baseman Brendan Jones (Holy Cross) in the sixth. The seventh began with designated hitter Blake Schaaf (Georgetown) turning the same feat of consecutive stolen bases before capping the Mainers’ scoring on a subsequent error. 

Jack Bello (Air Force) also turned in a scoreless relief performance for North Shore, working around a one-out single in the eighth with one strikeout.

Morris was charged with four runs (two earned) in 2.1 innings. 

Sanford logged eight hits and stole 11 bases 一 including four apiece by Shpur and Tucker 一 en route to the victory. Josh Kopetski (Rhode Island) allowed one run on four hits through a five-inning start.

The Navs return home for the first time since last weekend to host the Ocean State Waves on Saturday at Fraser Field in the team’s final game before a two-day NECBL All-Star break. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m.