Nighthawks Shut Out Navs Wednesday

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. — The North Shore Navigators were handed their first shutout loss of the season, falling 8-0 to the host Upper Valley Nighthawks in Wednesday night's New England Collegiate Baseball League contest at Maxfield Sports Complex.

North Shore (6-9) dropped its third straight game, while Upper Valley (8-7-1) won for the third time in four games since the Navigators won the teams' first meeting of the summer last Thursday at Fraser Field.

Reigning NECBL Player of the Week Hudson Ellis (Oral Roberts) had the lone Navs' hit in the first inning and reached base in three of his four plate appearances. 

The North Shore bullpen strung together quality late innings, pitching three straight scoreless frames to finish the game. Koby Seelig (Columbia) produced the best outing of the bunch, striking out two across two innings of one-hit, shutout ball.

Ellis, who was named the NECBL Player of the Week on Monday, got the Navs off to a strong start. He ripped a one-out single to left field and advanced to second on an error. After right fielder Hunter Kingsbury (Bryant) walked and designated hitter Maddix Simpson's (Ohio State) grounder moved both runners into scoring position, Upper Valley starter Anthony Bubba (Quinnipiac) got out of the jam unscathed with a strikeout.

North Shore southpaw Aidan Gelbsman (Boston College) struck out three while working out of a bases-loaded jam in the latter half of the first, but the hosts produced the only offense that they needed in a five-run second. Third baseman James Love (Eastern Illinois) delivered the biggest blow with a two-RBI single through the left side. 

Upper Valley rounded out the scoring on Love's RBI grounder in the fourth and right fielder William Hurt's (Virginia Tech) two-run single in the fifth. 

After Ismael Borrero (Mercer) worked 3.2 innings in relief of Gelbsman, Cameron Freeman (Longwood) escaped a two-on, two-out jam to limit the damage in the fifth and Seelig posted his third straight scoreless outing across the sixth and seventh. 

Peabody native and Bishop Fenwick grad Michael Geissler (Southeastern) dealt a 1-2-3 eighth to conclude the Navs' work on the mound.

The Navs also threatened at the plate in the ninth, but could not break the shutout after left fielder Jason Bello (Dayton) drew a leadoff walk, Ellis was hit by a pitch, and the Byfield native Kingsbury reached on a fielder's choice grounder.

The Navs journey back north on Thursday to meet another divisional foe in the Keene SwampBats for a doubleheader at Alumni Field. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. North Shore will be the designated home team in the first of the two seven-inning games, which is the rescheduled contest for Monday's rainout at Fraser Field.