Nighthawks Top Visiting Navs Monday

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. — As the New England Collegiate Baseball League playoff race heats up, the North Shore Navigators were unable to post a second consecutive North Division victory, falling 10-2 to the Upper Valley Nighthawks on Monday night at Maxfield Sports Complex.

With the loss, the Navs slipped to 18-19 on the summer.

Center fielder Hunter Kingsbury (Bryant) and catcher Daniel Leikus (Rhode Island) highlighted the North Shore offense, recording two hits and a stolen base apiece. Leikus drove home the team's only runs, hitting a two-run double in the eighth inning.

The Navs continued to wreak havoc with a perfect 3-for-3 showing on the basepaths. Designated hitter Aidan Sengenberger (Seton Hall) joined Kingsbury and Leikus with a stolen base, bringing the team's total to 131 in 155 attempts on the season. 

On the mound, Giancarlo Arencibia (New Orleans) provided a 4.2-inning start, allowing only two earned runs while striking out three. 

The home team plated single runs in each of the first three innings, with shortstop Frank Kelly (High Point) knocking a first-pitch leadoff triple and crossing home on Kelsey's first of back-to-back RBI singles. After a wild pitch brought in third baseman Alejandro Puig (Dartmouth) in the following frame, Kelsey also drove home a third-inning run with a single up the middle.

The Navs were unable to capitalize on a bases-loaded opportunity in the fourth, which represented their biggest offensive threat before breaking through in the late innings. Third baseman Tyler Shulman and Leikus posted consecutive base knocks with one out and second baseman Joey Bazydlo (Eckerd) drew a two-out walk, but Upper Valley righty Trey Sejnoha (Dartmouth) punctuated his four-inning outing with a strikeout.

Arencibia bounced back with a scoreless fourth, as Leikus erased Puig's leadoff single by catching a runner stealing. After Upper Valley's back-to-back singles to begin the fifth, John Milewski (Brandeis) relieved Arencibia and induced a line-drive double play to shortstop Hudson Ellis (Oral Roberts) to extinguish the threat.

Upper Valley continued its 14-hit attack with multiple runs in each of the sixth through eighth innings. Right fielder Levi Jones (San Diego State) sparked that stretch with a two-run triple down the right-field line in the sixth.

Following the Nighthawks' three-run seventh, the visitors made their mark on the scoreboard. Kingsbury sparked the rally with a leadoff double into right-center before stealing third. After Sengenberger walked and stole third with two outs, Leikus scored both runners on his own two-bagger over Kelsey's head in center.

The hosts rounded out the scoring in their half of the eighth, as second baseman Tim Dickinson (Saint Joseph's) hit an RBI double to right and Puig followed up with an RBI single in the very next at-bat. Connor Niemiec (Cornell) wrapped up the inning with a strikeout. 

The Navs will be back at Fraser Field on Tuesday to welcome in the Mystic Schooners for a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Mystic will be the designated home team in the first game, which is to make up a July 6 rainout in Groton, Conn.