LYNN, Mass. (July 27, 2025) 一 The visiting Vermont Mountaineers scored six runs over the first four innings on the way to an 8-2 win over the North Shore Navigators in Sunday’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Fraser Field.

With both teams competing for the fourth and final North Division playoff spot, North Shore dropped its second straight game to fall to 15-25 while Vermont improved to 15-26.

Vermont scored three runs in the second inning, two in the third and one in the fourth, seventh and eighth, but the Navs broke starter Noah Hertzler’s (William & Mary) shutout bid with two runs in the seventh. 

North Shore second baseman Simmi Whitehill (Monmouth) recorded the lone RBI base hit, while right fielder Sam Parks (Stonehill) and designated hitter Marc Willi (UMass) each reached base three times.

Center fielder Ethan Wilson (Winthrop) led off North Shore’s seventh inning with a walk and advanced when Willi reached on a fielding error. After catcher Aidan Sengenberger (Seton Hall) drew another walk to load the bases, Whitehill drove home the lone run on a base hit inside the third-base line.

Right fielder Sam Gates (George Washington) punctuated Vermont’s three-run second inning with a two-run, two-out single to right. In the third, catcher Bennett Shealor (Gardner-Webb) hit an RBI single before a successful double steal helped the Mountaineers increase its lead to five. 

After Gates’ leadoff triple in the fourth, left fielder Joey Pagano (Saint Joseph’s) hit a run-scoring single to lift Vermont to a 6-0 lead.

Mountaineer third baseman Elliot Miles (UMass Boston) hit a leadoff triple into the left-center field gap and scored on shortstop Matthew Minckler’s RBI single up the middle in the seventh. Miles rounded out Vermont’s scoring with a sacrifice fly to left an inning later.

Colin Dowdle (Holy Cross) worked a game-high three innings in relief of starter Raymond McNaught (Winthrop), who covered the first two frames. Dowdle finished his outing with back-to-back scoreless innings before Gus Magill (Cornell) followed with a scoreless and hitless inning of his own. In the ninth, Wilson worked around a two-out walk to post a zero in his North Shore pitching debut.

Hertzler earned the win for Vermont, tossing 6.2 innings of one-hit ball with six strikeouts. The righty overcame issuing seven walks, including three to Parks.

The Navs hit the road to conclude another North Division season series on Monday evening, taking on the Sanford Mainers for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch at Goodall Park.