LYNN, Mass. — The North Shore Navigators mounted an improbable comeback, scoring nine runs over the final three innings to defeat the Coastal Division rival Martha’s Vineyard Sharks 11-10 in 10 innings in Sunday’s New England Collegiate Baseball League action at Fraser Field.

With one out and the bases loaded in a 10-10 tie, Pat D’Amico (Bryant) stepped into the batter's box looking to deliver the game-winning run. He did just that, sending a sacrifice fly into center field to score Tim McGuire (Sacred Heart) and keep the Navigators’ playoff hopes alive.

“I was really just trying to get something up in the air,” D’Amico said on his plate approach. “I saw the slider in the second pitch of the at-bat and I saw it again on the fourth and just tried to put it in the air.”

Isaac Kim (UC Santa Barbara) and Danny MacDougall (Endicott) each had three hits to lead the North Shore offense. Kim scored two runs and drove in two more on a game-tying double in the bottom of the ninth.

North Shore improved to 18-23 on the summer, winning for the fifth time in six games and remaining 2.5 games out of the eighth and final wild card spot with three games remaining. Meanwhile, Martha’s Vineyard falls to 20-21 and drops the season series with the Navigators 4-2. The two teams will also meet on Tuesday in Oak Bluffs.

“The bats just came to life,” manager Bob Macaluso said on the win. “We just started swinging and swinging and swinging, and we swung enough to win the game.”

After trailing 7-0 through four innings, the Navigators’ first pair of runs came in the fifth inning when Matt Chatelle (Rutgers) smoked a ground ball through the right side of the infield, scoring Kyle Jones (Florida) and Ryan Gerety (Northeastern).

Gerety and Reece Moroney (Rhode Island) were consistent sources of offense all game long for the Navigators, as they combined to reach base nine times and score five runs. The two mirrored each others’ approaches by using their plate discipline to draw two five combined walks while each reached base twice on a pair of hits.

“When you get on base, you have a chance to score runs,” Macaluso said of Gerety and Moroney’s walk total. Swinging at the first pitch all the time makes it hard. But (drawing) some walks helps yourself, it helps the team, and it helped us tonight.”

Jones also found his way on base multiple times by using a very different approach. He was a ball magnet at the plate, getting on three times after being hit by a pitch. 

Jones and Gerety would score both again in the eighth, as a base hit by Kim and a triple by Sonny Rao (Northwestern) cut the deficit to 7-5. McGuire continued to cut into the Sharks’ lead by sending a sacrifice fly into left field to score Rao. 

Despite allowing a run in the ninth, the Navigators clawed their way back into the game on a two-out double into the right-center field gap by Kim, evening the game at eight.

Stoneham native left-hander Jack Iannibelli (Stonehill) climbed the mound for the third time this summer as the Navigators’ starting pitcher. Iannibelli previously pitched against the Sharks back on July 16 at the Shark Tank and provided the Navigators with 2.2 scoreless frames.

On Sunday, Iannibelli pitched a season-high 3.1 innings.

All season long, Chris Hacopian (Maryland) had been a Navigators killer, going 10-for-17 with seven RBI in five head-to-head games entering Sunday. He continued to do damage in Sunday’s contest, sending the game's fourth pitch over the left-center field to claim the game’s first run.

The Sharks then exploded in the fourth inning, as Andrew Yu (Duke) hit a bases-clearing double. Scott Seeker (Mount St. Mary’s) continued the big inning in the following at-bat, muscling an RBI into left field between shortstop Moroney and left fielder MacDougall to balloon the lead to 7-0.

“You have to play all nine,” Macaluso said on being down big early in the game. “You gotta have that mentality, and obviously, these guys have it.”

Out of the bullpen, Jack Bello (Air Force) provided scoreless innings for the Navigators. The right-hander went two hitless innings, allowing the Navigators’ offense to attempt a comeback. North Andover’s Ryan Griffin (Northeastern) pitched the 10th inning and was credited with his fifth win of the summer and second in three games, tying for the team lead.

After blowing a seven-run lead, the Sharks regrouped in extras. Matthew Prevesk (Central Florida) and Yu each delivered RBI-base hits, putting the Sharks up 10-8. But the Navigators were unphased, scoring three times in the tenth inning to win the game.

The Navigators will look to continue to keep their late-season surge in their final scheduled home game on Monday, as the Ocean State Waves will pay a visit to Fraser Field for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch.