North Shore Navigators vs. Vermont Mountaineers

Final Score: Vermont 8, North Shore 2

Lynn, MA – The Vermont Mountaineers defeated the North Shore Navigators Sunday afternoon at Fraser Field by an 8-2 score. The Mountaineers' pitching stole the show today, allowing just one hit and two runs.

Vermont jumped out in front early and never looked back in this one, getting started in the top of the second inning. After a walk and two singles, Sam Gates (George Washington) got the Mountaineers two runs on a single to right field. Later in the inning, Joey Pagano (St Joseph’s) took a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0.

Two more runs were scored in the third inning by Vermont, with Bennett Shealor (Gardner-Webb) grabbing the first run off a single to right. Matthew Minckler (Delaware) came across to score the next run on a stolen base. In the fourth, Gates led off with a triple and was driven in by Pagano for his second RBI of the game. After four innings, the Mountaineers led 6-0.

In the seventh, Elliot Miles (UMass Boston) ripped a triple to center and scored off a Minckler base hit to make it 7-0. In the bottom of the inning, North Shore responded with two runs of their own. Ethan Wilson (Winthrop) started things off with a walk. An error allowed Marc Willi (UMass Amherst) to reach, and Aidan Sengenberger (Seton Hall) walked to load the bases. Simmi Whitehill’s (Monmouth) infield single to third marked the first hit of the game for the Navigators, and it resulted in a run crossing the plate. Sam Parks (Stonehill College) walked with the bases loaded to add another North Shore run, but the damage was already done.

The Navs showed great patience today, drawing 7 walks as a team, but could only manage the lone scoring in the seventh. Noah Hertzler (William & Mary) got the win for Vermont, tossing 6.2 innings of two-run (one earned) ball. Raymond McNaught (Winthrop) was given the loss for North Shore, allowing three runs in two innings of work. The Navigators travel to face the Sanford Mainers Monday evening, while the Mountaineers visit the Upper Valley Nighthawks.

Box Score

Upper Valley Nighthawks vs. Sanford Mainers

Final Score: Sanford 8, Upper Valley 7

Sanford, ME – The Sanford Mainers continue their chase to clinch a playoff spot, winning their third in a row in a tight back-and-forth battle against the Upper Valley Nighthawks. Zach Kent (Binghamton) led the charge for the Mainers, going 3 for 4 with two doubles, a triple, and two RBIs. A neck-and-neck contest throughout, Sanford didn’t claim its first lead until the seventh despite never trailing by more than two runs. 

Upper Valley opened the scoring after Anthony Brotz (Marist) came home on a pair of wild pitches in the first and third innings. Sanford would respond in the bottom of the third with Kent’s RBI triple, who then came across himself on a Kyle Douin (Southern Maine) sacrifice fly. 

A Cole Fellows (Columbia) leadoff shot in the fourth gave the Nighthawks a 3-2 lead, before he brought in another RBI in the fifth on a sacrifice fly to provide Upper Valley a two-run lead. 

After Kent’s first double in the fifth scored Brendan Sencaj (Bentley), the Nighthawks regained the two-run cushion in the sixth with a Cameron Boardman (Hartford) RBI. The Mainers would not back down, bringing the deficit right back to one with a Ryan Kolben (UMass) RBI fielder’s choice to make the score 5-4 in favor of the Nighthawks. 

Fellows scored Brotz on a double to left in the seventh to make it 6-4, but instead of a quiet response like they’ve been doing all night, Sanford brought out the big guns. Although there was a little help from the Nighthawks’ defense, with three walks and an error, Sanford’s Domenico Tozzi (Coastal Carolina) blasted a double to right, scoring two. Sencaj also came home in the inning, giving Sanford the 7-6 lead.

But the excitement wasn’t done there. Upper Valley’s Luca Reyes (Florida International), with just three hits all season, tied the game with an RBI double in the eighth. However, Sanford halted any momentum and responded right away after Kent doubled and was brought home on a Douin single. Mainers closer Drew Smith (UConn) remained poised in the top of the ninth and navigated around a walk and a hit by pitch en route to an 8-7 victory.

With the win, Sanford sits at 21-20 and in second place in the North Division, and looks to clinch the playoffs with a matchup tomorrow against the North Shore Navigators. Meanwhile, the Nighthawks drop to 17-24 but are still in fourth place. They hope to bounce back tomorrow at 6:00 pm against the Vermont Mountaineers. 

Box Score