MONTPELIER, Vt. (June 20, 2025) 一 The North Shore Navigators finished the game with five straight innings of shutout relief, but fell to the North Division rival Vermont Mountaineers 8-2 in Friday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League action at Montpelier Recreation Field.

North Shore dropped the second game of a continuing six-game road trip and slipped to 4-11, while Vermont won its second straight for the first time this summer to improve to 5-6.

The Navs’ relief duo of Sean Zaslaw (Bryant) and Raymond McNaught (Quinnipiac) combined to blank Vermont over the final five innings, combining to strike out five and allow just three hits. Liam Kinneen (Princeton) and Colin Dowdle (Holy Cross) worked the first three.

After Zaslaw threw two innings of one-hit ball, McNaught fanned four across three frames en route to his fourth scoreless relief outing out of five this summer. McNaught’s last two outings have lasted multiple innings.

On the offensive side, right fielder Ethan Wilson (Winthrop) reached base three times on a single and two walks, while shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) hit a two-out RBI single in the seventh as North Shore broke its 27-inning scoreless streak. Wilson and Rickheim each logged one of the team’s three stolen bases. 

Vermont led 6-0 through two innings, racking up three hits in each and taking advantage of three combined errors. Second baseman Ty Acker (George Washington) punctuated the first with an RBI single to right, while left fielder Addison Ainsworth (Army West Point) and designated hitter Joey Pagano (Saint Joseph’s) capped the second with two-out RBI singles.

The hosts added to their advantage when first baseman Jayden Hernandez (Winthrop) hit a two-out, two-run double to right in the third. Catcher Bennett Shealor (Gardner-Webb) sparked the Mountaineer rally with a one-out walk and moved into scoring position on a following double by right fielder Sam Gates (George Washington).

From there, the North Shore bullpen went to work. Zaslaw started the theme with a 1-2-3 inning on just five pitches. In the fifth, catcher Aidan Sengenberger (Stonehill) caught Vermont shortstop Thomas Schreck (Army West Point) stealing second following a leadoff single.

North Shore avoided being shut out in three consecutive games for the first time in franchise history, scoring twice in a seventh inning which began with first baseman Brody Dalton (St. Johns River State) drawing a one-out walk. Both of the Navs’ runs in the frame were produced with two outs.

After left fielder Nater Wachter (UConn) knocked a base hit up the middle two batters later, Rickheim dropped an RBI single into shallow right. With second baseman Conor Moriarty (Bowdoin) batting, Wachter and Rickheim teamed up to execute a successful double steal that made it an 8-2 game.

Following Zaslaw, McNaught began his outing with a 1-2-3 sixth, worked around a two-out single in the seventh and closed the eighth with back-to-back strikeouts.

Sam Parks (Stonehill) and Davis Baker (Penn) drew one-out walks in the ninth, but the Navs were unable to add to their offense. 

Vermont’s Jayson Torres (Seton Hall) closed out the victory for Austin Ziance (Marietta), who worked three scoreles and hitless innings in relief of starter Oliver Pudvar (UConn). Pudvar held North Shore hitless for the first 10 of his 11 total batters, as Wilson ended the run when he lined a leadoff single to left in the fourth. 

Gates and Hernandez teamed up to go 5-for-8 with two RBI and four runs scored at the top of the Mountaineer lineup. Acker also had multiple hits.

The Navs continue their six-game road trip on Saturday night against the Ocean State Waves in South Kingstown, R.I. First pitch at Old Mountain Field is at 6:30 p.m.