WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. (June 23, 2025) 一 A pair of big innings and another night of stellar relief pitching propelled the visiting North Shore Navigators to an 8-4 win over the Upper Valley Nighthawks in Monday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Maxfield Sports Complex.

North Shore improved to 5-12 as it snapped a four-game losing streak, while Upper Valley moved to 7-6.

Center fielder Ethan Wilson (Winthrop) and first baseman Alex Marot (Charleston Southern) both went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored to help lead the North Shore offense, which banged out 10 hits. Catcher Aidan Sengenberger (Seton Hall) had a two-run single during North Shore’s four-run opening inning, while designated hitter Aukai Kea (Vanderbilt) broke a 4-4 tie with a leadoff solo home run in a three-run fifth.

North Shore’s bullpen allowed just three hits and struck out three while holding Upper Valley scoreless across six innings in relief of starter Trey Yesu (Bridgewater State). Benjamin Rehkow (Winthrop) was credited with the victory in his first relief outing of the summer, tossing a scoreless frame after the visitors took the lead.

Four consecutive one-out baserunners brought North Shore out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. After Wilson’s single into left started the rally, left fielder Michael Perazza (Florida Atlantic) followed with a base hit and advanced to third on a fielding error in center. An error on Marot’s ground ball to short brought in the Navs’ opening run.

As the inning continued, Kea walked and third baseman Davis Baker (Penn) recorded an RBI grounder to second. Sengenberger delivered the biggest blow of the inning, lining a two-run single through the left side of the infield.

Upper Valley cut its deficit in half in its first at-bats when left fielder Cole Fellows (Columbia) and shortstop Jack Spanier (Minnesota) scored following back-to-back singles with one out. A catcher’s interference call and an RBI fielder’s choice allowed the Nighthawks’ first runs to score.

After Yesu worked around a leadoff single in a scoreless second, the hosts tied the game on catcher Nick Shuhet’s (Rider) two-run double to left in the third.

Kea’s no-doubt homer to left began another big inning for North Shore in the fifth. Baker followed with a line single up the middle, stole second and scored on two wild pitches. After Sengenberger walked, Upper Valley reliever Will Harrigan (Columbia) recorded two outs, but Parks extended the visitors’ lead with an RBI infield single.

Before North Shore regained the lead, Rekhow benefited from Sengenberger throwing out an attempted base stealer, erasing a one-out base hit from Fellows. The final out of Rehkow’s frame began a stretch of 15 straight Nighthawk batters retired, as Elliott Eaton (Princeton), Oisin Lee (Notre Dame), Joseph Hauser (Northeastern) and Ryan Griffin (Northeastern) followed Rehkow.

Eaton posted a shutdown bottom of the fifth inning in 1-2-3 fashion, while Lee struck out one in his perfect frame and Hauser did the same across two innings of hitless and scoreless work. 

The Navs added a run in the ninth. Shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) reached on a one-out fielder’s choice, and after Parks walked, Wilson’s knock to left made it an 8-4 game.

Griffin then retired the first two batters he faced before stranding two on base, due to an infield single and an error, to close the victory.

The Navs play the fifth game of their six-game road trip on Tuesday night, facing another North Division opponent in the league-leading Keene SwampBats. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. from Alumni Field.