LYNN, Mass. (June 30, 2025) 一 The North Shore Navigators scored double-digit runs for the first time this summer and cruised to their fourth consecutive win, defeating the visiting North Adams SteepleCats 10-1 in Monday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Fraser Field.

The Navs extended just their second four-game win streak since returning to the NECBL in 2021, improving to 9-14. North Adams is 4-13.

First baseman Alex Marot (Charleston Southern) and shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) had three hits apiece for North Shore, which totaled 12 as a team. Marot went 3-for-4 with a first-inning RBI triple and two runs scored, while Rickheim reached base in all five plate appearances while going 3-for-3 with two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

Also contributing to the Navs’ attack, third baseman Davis Baker (Penn) went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a two-RBI double during a four-run eighth inning. Left fielder Jack Gold (Pomona-Pitzer) and second baseman Simmi Whitehill (Monmouth) each had two RBI. Gold has been impressive of late, going 5-for-8 with two doubles, four runs scored and three RBI across his last three games.

Peabody native Joe Castrichini (Longwood) and a quartet of North Shore relievers combined to allow just three hits and pitched a shutout through the first 8.2 innings. Castrichini allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out three across five shutout frames.

North Shore put a run on the scoreboard just three batters into the game, as Gold drew a one-out walk and quickly scored on Marot’s deep RBI triple down the left-field line. Right fielder Michael Perazza (Florida Atlantic) stepped up next and drove home the Navs’ second run on a sacrifice fly to left.

The two-run opening frame provided more than enough offense for Castrichini, who retired the first seven batters he faced and stranded the only hit he allowed -- a one-out single by North Adams catcher Owen Arias (Central Connecticut State) in the third -- with his first of two inning-ending strikeouts.

The Navs added to their lead in the fifth when Rickheim hit a one-out single to left, stole second and scored two batters later as Gold dropped an RBI knock into right. 

All nine North Shore batters came to the plate in the sixth, racking up three runs on three hits. Back-to-back hits by designated hitter Aukai Kea (Vanderbilt) and Baker started the inning. After catcher Aidan Sengenberger’s (Seton Hall) sacrifice bunt moved both runners, Whitehill made it a five-run game with a two-RBI single over shortstop. Back-to-back hit batters continued the frame, and Gold added another RBI on a sacrifice fly to right.

A four-run eighth punctuated the night for the hosts, beginning with Marot’s third hit sandwiched between a hit batter and a walk. North Adams recorded the first out before Baker raked a two-run double into left-center and Rickheim followed with an unorthodox two-out, two-RBI infield single three batters later.

North Shore’s strong night on the mound saw Joseph Hauser (Northeastern), Elliott Eaton (Princeton) and Swampscott native Pierce Friedman (Maine) all record 1-2-3 innings in relief of Castrichini. The shutout was not broken until a bases-loaded hit batter in the ninth, but John Milewski (Lafayette) recorded a strikeout in his inning of work to finish the night.

The Navs’ staff benefited from some outstanding defense throughout the night. After Perazza made a running catch in right earlier in the game, center fielder Nater Wachter (UConn) robbed Arias of a two-out hit with a diving catch in the right-center gap in the eighth.

North Shore uncaps the second full month of the NECBL season on Tuesday night when it faces the Danbury Westerners in the second half of the teams’ cross-divisional season series. First pitch at Rogers Park is set for 6:30 p.m.