Navs Sweep North Adams in Sunday Twinbill, Weekend Set

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It was a happy bus ride back home from the Berkshires for the North Shore Navigators, as they earned 4-0 and 6-2 wins over the North Adams SteepleCats in a Sunday doubleheader of New England Collegiate Baseball League action at Joe Wolfe Field.

The Navs enter back-to-back off days having won three straight against the North Division rival SteepleCats and four of their last six games overall, improving to 10-11 at the exact halfway mark of the season.

Game 1: North Shore 4, North Adams 2 (8 innings)

The Navs scored twice in the eighth inning to snap a 2-2 tie, with first baseman Maddix Simpson's (Ohio State) sacrifice fly to center field providing the winning run. After designated hitter Anderson French (Dallas Baptist) ripped a single to center to drive home a key insurance run, Thomas Mahoney (Northeastern) slammed the door shut with a 1-2-3 inning, saving the win for Lynn's own Josh Doney (UMass Lowell).

Doney, a former St. Mary's High School left-hander, pitched 2.1 innings of one-hit, shutout ball en route to his third victory of the summer. The save was Mahoney's second. On the offensive side, Byfield native center fielder Hunter Kingsbury (Bryant) put together a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.

The game began as a pitcher's duel, staying 0-0 through four innings. North Shore's Ethan Hunt (Southern New Hampshire) retired the first 11 batters he faced, setting the stage for his offense to manufacture the two go-ahead runs.

In the fifth, third baseman Simmi Whitehill (Monmouth) and Danvers native left fielder Danny Flynn (Northeastern) started up the offense with back-to-back walks before a double steal moved both into scoring position. A wild pitch two batters later brought Whitehill home with the opening run, and shortstop Hudson Ellis (Oral Roberts) lifted a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

The SteepleCats knotted the score on singles by right fielder Parker Camelo (Rhode Island College) and second baseman Alex Barrist (Lafayette) in the bottom half of the same frame, but Doney entered the game for Hunt and stranded the potential go-ahead run on third. 

While the Navs couldn't take advantage of Kingsbury's one-out single to left and a two-out walk by catcher Daniel Leikus (Rhode Island) in the sixth, Doney worked around two, two-out baserunners to keep the game tied. A 1-2-3 seventh forced extras.

With Ellis as the placed runner on second base to begin the eighth, he reached third on second baseman Michael Brown's (Hofstra) sacrifice bunt and scored on Simpson's sac fly. Kingsbury kept the line moving with an infield single and took second on a wild pitch. French then delivered another key RBI, stinging a line-drive base hit up the middle to make it a 4-2 game. 

Staked to a two-run lead, Mahoney breezed through a 1-2-3 final frame, retiring the side with a strikeout on just eight pitches.

Game 2: North Shore 6, North Adams 2

A four-run fourth inning was all that the Navs needed to wrap up a sweep of the doubleheader and rare three-game series. Peabody native first baseman Danati Fronduto (San Jacinto) finished 2-for-3 with a run scored, while right fielder Grant Hunter (Binghamton) highlighted the big inning with a two-run single to center.

Four North Shore pitchers combined to surrender just four hits and two unearned runs. Southpaw Jack Korthas (Columbia) earned the win in relief of starter John Milewski (Brandeis), stranding inherited baserunners on first and second in the second inning before finishing a season-high 2.1 innings with two strikeouts. 

St. John's Prep grad Jack Sarno (Northern Essex CC) and Justin Fryer (Northwestern) also logged scoreless appearances in relief. Sarno pitched two innings of one-hit ball. 

Once again, the teams played scoreless ball until North Shore sent 10 batters to the plate while putting a crooked number on the scoreboard. 

Back-to-back singles quickly brought home the opening run, as center fielder Grayson Carpenter (Dayton) posted a leadoff hit, took second on a subsequent error and scored on French's hard-hit single past North Adams first baseman Tony Woodie (SUNY Cobleskill). Fronduto knocked his own base hit to center two batters later before third baseman Jason Bello (Dayton) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. 

Hunter's two-RBI liner to extend the lead followed, while Brown wore another pitch to signal the end of the day for North Adams reliever Steven Sams (Middle Georgia State). With another arm summoned, left fielder Jack Rickheim (Harvard) drew a bases-loaded walk to force Bello home with North Shore's fourth run.

The hosts produced their two unearned runs on left fielder Evan Meier's (Mount St. Mary's) fielder's choice grounder in the fourth. Korthas recovered from the damage to retire the next three batters, including two by way of the strikeout. 

North Shore got the two runs right back as the scoreboard flipped to the fifth. With two outs, Fronduto hit an infield single before pinch runner Simpson stole second and came across as second baseman Tyler Shulman (Harvard) singled up the middle. Shulman reached second on a wild pitch, and after Bello walked, a throwing error on his stolen base attempt brought him home. 

Sarno stranded a runner on third in the fifth and had two on base before inducing back-to-back fly balls in the sixth. Like Mahoney in the earlier game, Fryer set down the side 1-2-3 in the seventh, polishing off the win with a strikeout looking on only four pitches. 

The Navs return to action on Wednesday when they make their final trip to Alumni Field to face the Keene SwampBats. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.